Converging of Eras
by Loretwister
Summary: Slight AU and cross-over with SWTOR. Bethany Cross, the Hero of Tython, finds herself fighting in the clone wars almost 3,5 thousand years after her fight against the old emperor. Will the actions of this old republic jedi ripple trough the war and change the outcome? Or will destiny still go its way? Anakin/OC friendship.
1. Bethany Cross

Hey all, this is my first try at Starwars fanfiction, also one where I plan to write a whole story instead of oneshots. It will sort of be a cross-over between SWTOR and the Starwars trilogy's aswell as the clone wars series. I'll try to fix dates and events according to the offical data (Wookiepedia is my friend) for the time period between SWTOR and TPM, but donlt call me out on those. To be save i'll call it an AU story. Enjoy!

00000

Stars flew by as blue streaks of light as a republic cruiser flew at lightspeed towards its destination, Corusant. Through the glass of the bridge several figures could be seen milling around.

"I don't see why you are so stuck-up about this Obi-wan, we completed the mission didn't we?" The tallest of the group said. Sandy blond hair cascading around his head and looking at the person next to him with piercing blue eyes, mirth hidden inside the look he was giving his old master.

Jedi master Obi-wan Kenobi looked back at his friend with a sour look, "Yes Anakin, and thanks to your "completion" I am stuck with this thing for the next few days." he said pointing at the brace that currently held his arm. "Sometimes I wonder if it's your goal to get me injured!"

The third person, a teenage tortugan girl with two lightsabers on her belt piped in. "Oh come on master Kenobi, you know master Skywalker and I would never plot to get you hurt!"

"Yet, you seem to exceed more times than I can count." Obi-wan replied. "One must wonder then, if that is our fault or if the great "Negotiator" just can't look after himself." Anakin smirked, crossing his arms. "Or maybe he is just getting old?" he added looking questioningly at his padawan. Ashoka couldn't help but repress a giggle at her master, especially when seeing Obi-wan's sour look turn even more sour.

"I asure you Anakin, that my skills have not dimminished by age. The problem is that over the years your skills for getting into trouble have just increased more than my skills to prevent it," Obi-wan replied "if you would just take a moment and remember the things I have spend over a decade cramming into that skull of yours, you would..."

At that point Obi-wan's rant was interupted by a great wave of force washing over the trio, making them stumble and grab for something to hold onto. Before any of them could even respond to the unusual occurence alarms started blaring on the bridge.

"Sirs!" the navigation clone said. "We apear to be flying into a uncharted meteor storm, orders?"

Anakin, who recuperated first, streched to full height and made is voice boom trough the bridge. "Drop us out of hyperspace!, power up the shields and prepare for impact damage to the ship!" The clones immediately started working, confirming the orders with a "Yessir."

The ship dropped out of hyperspace, revealing hundreds of clusters of ice meteors, most of them as large as the cruiser itself. The skillfull clones started evasive maneuvers to avoid the ice and plot a course out of the field.

"Quick thinking there Anakin." Obi-wan said "we would have been icicles if we had continued any longer."

"So much for careful planning and consideration, right master?" Anakin replied smugly, glancing at his old jedi master while keeping an eye on the nav-computer's generated map.

"Masters, What was that force wave?" Ashoka asked still rubbing her head. The mention brought the present jedi back to the massive force wave they had felt earlier. "I know the force warns us for danger, if we atune for it, but that was nothing like I have felt before."

"It was very peculiar, that's for sure." Obi-wan replied stroking his beard with his good hand. "It almost felt as if another jedi opened himself to the force suddenly, and nearby. A very strong jedi at that."

"In this meteor cluster? I doubt it," Anakin said "we would know if another Jedi was stranded in this cluster because then this would be a rescue mission, or we would have been told to avoid this hyperspace lane."

"Sirs. I'm picking up a vessel in that large icerock on the port side," one of the clones in charge of the scanners said "or I think it is, its shape does not match any data and it embedded deep into the structure."

"Could this be why the force told us of a Jedi nearby? To find this ship?" Ashoka pondered. "I mean if there is someone alive in there we would sense it. And since we did not expect a lifeform here in deep space it might have felt as strong as a Jedi."

"I don't know, padawan," Anakin said looking towards Obi-wan. "Shall we go and check it out?"

"Yes, I sense that whatever send that wave of force energy originated from that ship. If anything we should check it for in our report on this to the council." Obi-wan replied. "Captain Rex, stop the ship and prep a shuttle. Also get our deepspace gear." He told the clone.

"Right away sir." The captain said.

00000

The three jedi soon found themselfs spacewalking on the large ice formation. They neared the crater that was smashed when the unknown ship crashed into the ice. Atleast they now confirmed it was a ship, though unlike any of them had seen. As they drew closer Anakin dicovered something even more unsettling. "Look, that is the jedi mark there on the hull!"

"So this is a jedi ship," Ashoka said "It's not one I have seen in the hangar before." "No," Obi-wan replied "it must predate the archives because I haven't seen a holo of it ever before either, not even in the holocron fault."

"That would mean its a ship from the old republic!" Anakin exclaimed, excited. "It's a miracle it's so well preserved if it's that old. Lets see if we can get inside."

The layer of ice was thick between the jedi and the ship, having grown over time. But it was no match for lightsabers. The trio soon found their way to a boarding hatch near the back of the ship. Anakin prepared to cut it open but Obi-wan stopped him. "Wait Anakin, if there is still life on the ship, we wouldn't want to expose it to the vacuum of space." He said looking around. "Lets see if we can enter trough the hull near the engines to get into the engine bay. That should not have enviromental control and pressure. Then see if we can get some power running."

Anakin nodded so he and Ashoka began cutting more ice until they made it to the engines. They sliced a hole in the hull and as expected no air came rushing out. After jumping in and lighting the torches on their suits they made their way to the control pannels.

"This shouldn't be too hard," Anakin said kneeling to remove a panel "if the inside is a preserved as the outside then the engines should have no problem getting power back." He fiddled with wires and connectors inside the machine until one of them produced a spark. The engines spurred and jumped back to life. Power began flowing and the lights inside the ship turned on.

"Well done master!" Ashoka said, Anakin brushing the compliment away. "Lets search the ship for data and maybe even that lifeform we have felt." She said.

They made towards the door into the rest of the ship, and found to their luck that it was a double door, made to keep the rest of the ship pressurised. They made it inside and started exploring.

First thing they found was a small medbay next to the engine room, which at one point had been properly tended to, even if most of the equipment was now frozen in place. They continued further finding a circular room with a holo communications station and several shelves of books and holos lining the wall. "This must have been a communications and common room." Anakin said. "Yes, and build for a small crew, maybe 7 or 8 beings in total." Obi-wan added, fingering the holo's on onse side of the wall. "I'll stay here and see what these holos have to say, you two continue on."

Anakin and Ashoka walked into the hallway again this time moving to the room opposite of the holo room. "This must be the cockpit master" Ashoka said as they moved in. What they found in there shocked the Master-padawan duo. Near the pilot seat they found a body, female by the looks of it. Completely frozen in ice. Ashoka ran to the figure seeing if there were signs of life while Anakin surveyed the cockpit. "The cockpit windows shattered on impact, but the ice must have frozen it shut again. That explains the hunk of ice in here with that person in it." He pondered.

"Master!" Ashoka exlaimed "I still sense life in her!" Anakin whipped his head toward his padawan and looked at the person inside the ice. Surely enough he felt a life force. Small and weak but still there! Springing into action Anakin said "I'll get Obi-wan and we'll contact our ship for reinforcements and medical aid. Start cutting the ice, but don't free her! She must be unfrozen in a controlled enviroment!" Ashoka nodded and ignited her dual lightsabers. Anakin moved out of the cockpit and grabbed his comm. he hailed his cruiser. "Captain Rex, we have found someone alive here, send a medical crew. We need to transport a frozen body onto the ship." The captain hesitated for a moment "Sir? Are you positive?" he asked. "Yes!" Anakin said "just do it!" the response came as "Right away sir!"

Obi-wan, who was emerged in a holo didn't hear Anakin walk in. "Obi-wan, we found someone." The senior Jedi looked up from his holo in shock and sprung to his feet "Where?" he asked. "In the cockpit." came the reply as Anakin already turned around back to the cockpit. Obi-wan caught up with him halfway. Anakin spoke while walking "I contacted Rex, he is sending a medical crew to get her to the ship." "Her?" Obi-wan asked. "Yes it is a human female by the looks." Anakin replied. "Why ask?" Obi-wan looked ahead "The holos, they were communication logs between a female jedi and the council, but I didn't recognize any of the members of it. There were also some other crewmembers who joined the conversations. That is besides the point though, the amazing fact is that those holos _do_ date back to the old republic. If this is the Jedi in those holos we have just found a 3 milenia old Jedi!" Anakin was amazed by that fact for a moment before they reached the cockpit and found that Ashoka had already freed the woman from the wall of ice. Laying on the ground was a large human icicle, however crude the discription was. Her arms were crossed before her face, as if trying to protect the head and the knees were pulled up. It looked like the person had tried to shield herself from the impact and had been flashfrozen right after it due to the cold temperature and the force of the impact. Trough the Ice all three of them saw two lightsabers at her hips. "Kind of like carbon freezing." Obi-wan had commented. The three jedi waited for the clones to come in with a hover stretcher and haul the person to the second shuttle. Though the clones hid it well, they all felt in uncomfortable at the wierd situation.

Once the person was safely in the shuttle and on her way to the cruiser with the clones Anakin spoke up. "Obi-wan, Ashoka, you go ahead to our shuttle." "What are you going to do master?" the tortugan padawan replied. Anakin ignited his lightsaber and started cutting away at the ice on the controls. "There is too much information on this ship to just leave it here. Since the engines work, I am going to try and get this baby to move again and fly her to the cruiser." "Very well Anakin," Obi-wan said. Your padawan and I will go the the shuttle and wait for you there, if you can't get the ship to move, join us and we'll go back."

Anakin scoffed. "Please Master, There has never been a ship that I haven't been able to get to fly again." Anakin said sitting down in the pilot seat. Ashoka chuckled and Obi-wan shook his head when they walked out, towards their shuttle.

00000

Anakin, working wonders on machines once again, did manage to get the ship flying again, and with some tow cables form the cruiser it was hauled into the cruiser. Meanwhile the frozen unknown jedi was placed in the medbay, where a team of astounded droids were busy unfreezing the woman as slowly and precisely as possible. Meanwhile the clones had maneuvered the ship out of the meteor field and the three Jedi contacted the Jedi temple.

"Master Kenobi, knight Skywalker and Padawan Tano, late you are, to arrive on corrusant." Jedi grandmaster Yoda's holoform said. Seven other forms were present, meaning more than half the council was on corusant at this moment.

"And with a good, but astounding reason, master Yoda," Obi-wan said "we made the most peculiar discovery."

"And what is that?" Master Windu asked.

Anakin continued. "On our way while in hyperspace Master Kenobi, Ashoka and I felt a very strange force wave. Moments later we were alerted that we had entered an uncharted meteor field."

"Force wave?" Master Fisto inquired

"Yes, as if someone suddenly opened herself to the force, like a jedi and a strong one at that." Anakin answered.

"Herself, you said Skywalker. Know her gender, do you?" master Yoda asked.

"That is the strangest part." Obi-wan took over again. "While trying to get out of the field, we found a ship crashed into one of the ice meteors. We decided to inspect it due to the nature of the sitation and the force wave. Only the ship's design predates back to the old republic. It is currently in our hold."

Several masters raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "And there was someone on the ship?" Master Windu further asked.

"Yes master, when we entered the ship and booted the power, we found one body aswell as several holos containing communication logs. Amazingly the jedi was still alive, albeit frozen in ice" Anaking filled in.

"I looked at some of the holos and they are communications between a jedi and the council predating back to the old republic. Which is why we drew the conclusion that the female on the ship was one of ours. She is currently in our med-bay being carefully unfrozen and we are planning to take her with us to corusant."

The masters on the holo looked preplexed, murmuring being heard. It was master Yoda who spoke up. "Well done, you have. If surviving, take this old republic jedi to the temple, you will. Waiting for you, we all shall." And with that the holo conference was ended. "Captain Rex," Anaking said turning to the clone. "Take us to corusant as fast as you can!" "Yessir" replied the 501st Captain.

00000

It would take 7 hours to get to corusant according to the nav-computer but 7 hours was plenty of time. The medical droids had very carefully melted the ice around the female jedi and to their astonishment the person started living the moment the core body temperature was sufficient. Blood started pumping, lungs started taking in air again and the brain started controlling the bodily function again. Life support was not needed and the droid informed the jedi that the patient was in good health and would probarly even wake before they reached their destination.

Anakin and Obi-wan had set up a watch besides her bed. Obi-wan had pointed out that their female friend would probarly awake very confused and alarmed and that she would probarly need some reasurance from a fellow jedi that all was well.

So with that in mind Anakin took up the first watch, sitting in a chair next to the infirmary bed. He took his time to observe their intriguing friend. She was definitely a she, judged from her, how did Obi-wan say it again? Assets. She had shoulderlong scarlet hair and her face had a large scar, going from her forehead above her right eye over her nose to her left cheek. During the examination Anakin has seen that she had icy blue eyes which, he imagined, could probarly freeze a normal man to death if stared at to long. The young knight chuckled at the irony that little fantasy implied.

He had also examined her attire. While the design was obviously jedi it was nothing like the flowing robes or the occasional leather jacket like he wore himself. Her dark brown robe, by lack of better word had a hood like all jedi, but instead of draping her shoulders it flowed into a tight fitting vest, reinforced with plasteel strips and plates like armor. The shoulders held larger pads of plasteel and the robe didnt start flowing till below her belt. Under that she wore cloth pants and then a set of boots that reached up to her knees, both with plasteel shin guards. Lastly she wore elegant gauntlets of the same material protecting her elbows and lower arms. They had also found her with two lightsabers instead of one like most jedi. And more importantly, both lightsabers were, after igniting them to see, a deep orange colour. There was no jedi alive with that colour lightsaber and the closest to it came master Windu's with its purple colour, offsetting the green and blue that the rest of the jedi wielded.

Lastly, in the silence of the medbay, he probed her with the force. Sensing her connection and getting quite the shock. She was almost as strong as himself! He quickly scanned her medical file that the droids had made during the examination for her midiclorian count, taken from a bloodsample. Anaking knew his own was the highest ever sitting at 27000. next in line came master Yoda's with 21000. But this unknown Jedi had a whopping 24500 midiclorians. Making her stronger and any jedi sans himself at this point in time. As if his amazement of this woman could not grow even more! Anakin settled next to the bed, placing a hand on her arm, feeding her little bits of forcepower to heal. He could not wait for her to wake up.

00000

Cold, and Darkness. That was all she felt. Memories flashing, as in a dream. Doc flirting with everything that had female genitalia, Kira being pissed at him, or once again debating Jedi prinicples. T-7 bleeping at her telling that the engine's _really_ need a checkup. So many memories..*

She was suddenly aware of her body, as if only just discovering its existence. It only happened because she felt a pressure, like a hand on her arm. Wait, she had an arm! She tried moving her limbs but was unable to. Slightly panicking, she called upon the force, its connection there like it had alway been. Her muscles and nerves registered the forced movement and protested. Pain shot trough her like a knife, stopping her from moving again. Suddenly she heard a voice. Male by the sound. Doc? That would explain why it felt like she was on an infirmary bed. Slowly she opened her eyes, and found a pair of clear blue ones staring back. Wavy sandblond hair cascaded around his head, and she saw a scar near his right eye. Not Doc then. In alarm she raised her head up, once again calling on the force and trying to shove the man away, but he resisted.

"Calm down, friend." The man said. "I am not going to hurt you. You're going to be all right." Since her force powers were still working she probed the man with the force, finding to her relief that it was a Jedi, not a Sith or some Imp that had gotten her. She calmed down, laying her head back on the pillow.

"We found you frozen in ice in a uncharted meteor field, we were quite amazed that you were alive." The man said. "Could you tell me your name?"Struggling to find her voice she replied. "What's yours?"

The man blinked, not expecting that, but recovered with a smile and said "Anakin Skywalker."

"I'm Bethany Cross" she replied, before fatigue suddenly took her and she fell back asleep.

00000

*Doc and Kira are companions that join you in SWTOR if you play the jedi knight class. Doc is a massive flirt who happens to be a doctor and Kira Carsen is your (ex)padawan (depending on where in the game you are).

That is chapter one, I hope you guys like it, and if you can, leave a review!

Loretwister out.


	2. That is a long time

Hey guys, here is chapter two. I know not all of you are familiar with the SWTOR timeline (from the MMO). I'll try to add author notes for information you need if I won't provide it in a future chapter. If you want more in depth information, search Wookiepedia for the names, or play the game. Its F2P and digital downloadable, the story will not disappoint.

(edit: I mixed up docs in the manager. If you read the chapter with all the grammar mistakes, I am terribly sorry.)

This fic therefore contains spoilers for the Jedi Knight storyline of the game, if you don't want to know about it yet, go play the game and then read.

00000

*Sigh* Council meetings, they should be forbidden.

She was staring at a particular spot on the large round table she was sitting at. A speck of dust was darting around on it, captivating her full attention. With these way to comfortable large chairs, build for long hours of meetings it was hard to not slump into hard needed blissfull sleep. Bethany however was trying her hardest not to fall into slumber and was silently musing about the last few day's instead.

The war had started again completely after her victory over the Emperor, also known as Darth Vitiate. It was ofcourse naive to think that with his supposed death, the empire would suddenly crumble and slink into nothingness. No instead the remaining sith had a quick struggle for power after which Second Great Galactic War went into full swing out of revenge for their fallen Emperor, already claiming billions of lives accross the galaxy. Just hours ago, a bloody campain on the supposed recently claimed planet of Correlia cost her personally. The life of Sergeant Rusk, the republic trooper and commander that had stood by her side for half the cold war and into the palace of the Emperor himself. His loss came as a hard blow among her crew, although her jedi upbringing helped the youngest master in the history of the order to cope. Letting go of the loss keenly felt, honor his memories and continue on where he can no longer. It was a soothing mantra she had recited few times on her way back.

"Master Cross, are paying attention?" Came the voice of grandmaster Satele Shan. Bethany looked up in a daze, "What was that master Satele?" she asked.

"I asked if you are paying attention, master Cross." The woman replied. "I have asked you twice if you had anything more to add to the meeting, before we can go over the dividing of tasks among us until the next council meeting." The grandmaster eyed her fellow jedi with concern.

"I am fine master, just incredibly tired. While the mission to Correlia was succesfull, it was not an easy feat. I require rest, nothing more." Bethany said, smiling.

It was master Kaedan(*1) that spoke next, the human master adding his look of concern to the rest of the present council faces. "Perhaps it is time for meditational leave for you master Cross. While your efforts in the war are of immense help, we cannot have one of our own work herself to death."

Bethany crossed her gaze with the master, steeling her eyes. "I assure you I am fine, a night of rest and I will be back to full. I'll take on a next mission first thing in the morning."

"Your determination is admirable Bethany." Master Kiwiiks spoke up. "But you must see how much stress you are putting yourself into. One cannot be a savior every moment of the day."

Bethany sighed "I am sorry masters. I just can't help but think it was by my doing that this war started again, and is therefore my responsibility to stop it."

"Because of your victory over the Emperor?" master Satele asked. "You must learn my friend that we cannot control how our actions influence the future, only accept that they do."

"Besides, had you not fought the Emperor and thwarted his plans, billions of lifes, more than this war can ever kill would have been gone. You have done a great service to this galaxy, and continue to do so. But working yourself to death will only blemish that service over time." Satele added.

"I will not stop fighting this war!" Bethany added crossing her arms "Not until the peace I disrupted is restored. It was my victory that created a power vacuum among the sith, and their vengeance started this war. Just like with the death of master Orgus."

"It was not you who disrupted it" Another master, namely Giffis Fane mixed into the conversation. "It was a long coming confrontation. Many events causes the fragile peace between The Republic and The Empire to break, and it were not just your actions that finally shattered it."

Bethany however was stubborn in her conviction. How could they not see? She fought the Emperor to save the galaxy, but instead it created chaos. This mess was her fault. Steeling her icy gaze onto the council around her. "I repeat my fellow masters, I will not back down while people die because of me. I simply cannot.." she began but was interupted by Satele. "Enough! Master Cross, you are being understandably unreasonable due to the recent tiring events. But you must see to reason!"

The young master fixed her gaze onto Satele, but the grandmaster did not falter under her stare, instead forced a steel look back to her tenfold. Bethany, exhausted turned her gaze away and slumped.

"Please accept my apologies masters. I am not well." She said bending her head, obscuring her face completely with her hood.

"I have a solution." Kiwiiks offered. "We have a request that a jedi attend the next elections of senators on Alderaan. With the unrest from the Empire settled a few years back by you, master Cross, the planet is in a state of relative peace. This mission will not be taxing on you while you can still play an intergral part in the war by securing the continuation of Alderaan's position in the Republic by having this election go smoothly." She said folding her arms inside her robe.

"That is an excellent idea master Kiwiiks." Master Satele said. "It shall be so. Master Cross, the day after tommorrow you will head for Alderaan to oversee this election. For now you are excused of your duty on this council to rest until the start of the mission."

"Very well masters." Bethany said, rising from her seat and making her way out of the council chamber.

"I sometimes wonder if it was wise to appoint her as master." Master Kaedan said. "While I do not doubt her skill, she is clearly struggling with the responsibility of a master."

"No," Satele said. "It is not her responsibility as a master, but as a jedi that his affecting her. All of us have had to learn that in our line of work we cannot always protect every one and everything, even if we often pretend we can. Any jedi runs into this at one point in their career. She suffers from the fact that hers is an extreme case, involving more than a few lives. Whe can only hope she will soon see the truth."

00000

Two nights later Bethany was preparing to leave for Alderaan. She was feeling much better due to sleep aswell as spending the free day with some of the younglings on Tython who admired her and kept asking her for stories of her adventures. If there was one thing that could calm her restless spirit from the war it was these children, crawling on her lap in the meditation rooms, listening to her tales and lessons. She had a soft spot for them, mothering over them and teaching them the jedi principles. And she secretly revelled in the gasps of awe when she displayed a particular difficult lightsaber move. Unbecoming of a jedi, sure. But everyone had a little bit of pride in them.

Milling about in the hanger on Tython where her defender class light corvette was docked, she was less than pleased. All her companions had made a point as to be otherwise occupied when she was planning to leave. Her ex-padawan Kira Carsen had taken the same advise for a break and had offered to assist in classes for the younglings on Tython. Doc was off to force knows where, leaving only a note in his room saying "Gone fishing, back in a few days." Bethany highly doubted the biggest flirt in the galaxy was actually "gone fishing" but she had learned years ago not to ask. Then there was T7, who during the mission to Correlia had taken some serious damage and was currently in repair. Something about him being an old model and not having parts for him. The man in engineering had even offered a new astromech as replacement. Bethany has scoffed at the technican, telling him no amount of computer power could replace her T7. Lord Scourge had abandond them a few month back. While the man known as the Emperor's Wrath had stated he respected her as a jedi and force user, he had made it clear that he was and always will be a sith and that it was time for him to return to the darkside. With the Emperor gone and all traces of his evil plan wiped out, there was no more benefit to their alliance and the next time they would meet, it would be on the battlefield. Bethany dreaded that day for sure. Lastly her other droid, the annoying protocol droid who took care of her ship and kept pestering about having come up with a new diet to keep her fit was wisely left back home.

Having loaded the last bits onto the corvette, Bethany made a last walk down the ramp to check off the pre-flights with the hangar droid. But on her way she felt the familiar presence of her old apprentice walking into the hangar.

"Hello master." Kira called, walking up to her old teacher. "Ready to leave already?"

"Yes, I am on a schedule to get to Alderaan and its not down the street, even with the convenience of hyperspace travel. What brings you here?"

Kira tried to wave it off in her usual manner. "Oh nothing master, just saying farewell." But something was off on her tone.

Bethany raised an eyebrow, Kira was a strong and more importantly independed woman. She would usually just wave her off dismissively, and swagger off whenever their dutys seperated them. "Farewell?" Bethany asked "You never say farewell. Not like this anyway." She eyed her friend "What's wrong?"

Kira, sensing her facade was not working and instead adopted a serious face, peaking curiosity from her old master. "I.. Had a feeling master. A feeling this would be the last time we would meet." She said clasping her hand infront of her, unsure about what to make of it herself. "A premonition?" Bethany asked. "No, just.. a feeling." Kira answered. "I doubt its anything my friend, I am only going to Alderaan to baby-sit a few wannabe senators."

Kira chuckled "I wonder who will be more immature, your politicians or my younglings." "The politicians, that is for sure!" Bethany smirked then added "The younglings are perfect little angels when I am with them." "That is because they are afraid that you'll feed them to the next sith you meet." Kira said tauntingly but her look became serious again. "In anycase, even if my feeling is not true, there is no harm in what I want to say to you."

Kira leveled her gaze with her old master. "If this is the last time we see eachother. I want to thank you master, for everything. For the training, and the trust you put into me even when the rest of the galaxy, including myself didn't have it. I have come a long way thanks to you and I want you to know how.. grateful I am."

Bethany was touched, but felt knocked out of balance from her old padawans demeanor. She decided to answer earnestly. "Kira, all I ever did is believe in you. You did all the work. You have certainly earned your knighthood, and I am unbelievably proud of you. If the force indeed wills this to be the last time we meet, I want you to know that."

Kira beamed, unsettling Bethany even more. She layed a hand on the knights shoulder. "Now go ahead and try not to talk my younglings into pranking all the other masters. I had quite the task smoothing everything out with master Kaedan last time. May the force be with you."

Bethany recieved small smile from Kira in return "I can only promise to try. May the force be with you too master." And with that Bethany turned away and onto the ramp of her ship.

00000

Bethany woke from the dream. How right Kira had been. That meeting in the hangar had been the last time the two women had seen eachother, and it would probarly remain that way. Force knows where she was now.

Laying in the infirmary bed, the jedi did not sense anyone nearby leaving her to her own thoughts for now. She remembered that short conversation with the male jedi, Skywalker was his name? Yes. He had said they had found her frozen in ice deep in space. How long had she been in there? From her small force probe of Anakin she found an amazing amount of forcepower residing in him. Even larger than herself! Surely she would know such a powerful jedi, but she didn't. That meant that she had been in the ice long enough to have this man, who looked in his early twenty's, ascend into the jedi rank in her absence. That would mean nearly three decades atleast! What of the war with the Empire then? Bethany opened her eyes to search her surroundings which went better than last time we woke. It was definitely a military infirmary, meaning she was on a warship. Was the war still going on then?

Bethany decided to get up. Suprisingly she found that all the fatigue that had been in her body last time she was awake was nearly gone. She figured with having spend force knows how long in a block of ice she would have had a much harder time getting back her strenght. It must have been Skywalker using the force to help her recuperate. She sat up and slowly threw her legs from the bed, sitting on the edge and examined herself. Physically she was ok. No missing limbs or body parts as far as she could feel, although her body was stiff and still protested abit from her attempt to stretch. She was wearing a medical robe designed to keep body temperature at level while a patient was in deep sleep. Luckly she saw her clothes, neatly folded, and lightsabers on a table next to the bed.

Deciding it was best to change, Bethany stood up and slipped out of the medbay robe, grabbing for her underwear. However, halfway trough pulling up her undergarments she saw the medbay door open with a hiss from the corner of her vision.

In the door opening stood another jedi, judging by the lightsaber. But it was not Skywalker. This man wore brown and beige robes, with white gauntlets and he had short reddish brown hair and an impressive beard covering his face. The beard however did not hide the state of shock the man was in at seeing Bethany standing in the room with nothing but her lower regions covered.

The man actually was too shocked, or in awe Bethany thought amused, to actually respond in a civilised way. He just stood there gazing at what Bethany determined was her chest. Having enough she balled her fists and placed them on her hips as she turned to him in full, setting her icy glare on him. "Yes they are real, you can stop staring now!" she yelled.

The man finally found the rational part of his brain kicking into action as he swiftly turned around, yelling a panicked "I am terribly sorry!" Bethany smirked at his back, seeing the red hue of shame reaching his ears. She replied with a slight venom in her voice "Please alow this girl some privacy to get dressed. Wait outside the room. I'll be there to punch you shortly." The man flinched and stepped out, still not turning around and closing the door with a swipe of force.

Bethany continued to dress, putting on her undershirt and pants. Slipping into her brown robe and tightening the clasps around her side and getting into the boots and gauntlets. Lastly she clipped her two sabers to her belt and walked to the door.

Outside was the Jedi from just a moment ago leaning against the wall, eyes closed and apparently in a meditation. Probarly to calm himself while he waited.

Bethany crossed her arms and said "I have seen dark jedi before, but perverted jedi are new to me."

The man opened his eyes and gave her a look full of regret. "Please milady. Accept my deepest apologies for my behavior. I was merely walking in to check on you but did not expect you to be in such a.. ehh.. state of undress."

"And I suppose that was the first time you saw a female naked?" Bethany asked. The mans eyes turned to slits, offended? Before he could answer though she continued "Obviously. Well then, might I know the name of my not so secret admirer?"

The man looked at her wildy for a moment, not caring in the slightest for Bethany's implications. But he recovered and answered with "My name is jedi master Obi-wan Kenobi."

Bethany nodded "Well then master Obi-wan 'the pervert' Kenobi. My name is jedi master Bethany Cross and I'd like some answers. Your friend Skywalker spoke briefly to me and I'd like to know where I am."

Obi-wan hid his distress at her nickname for him well and answered "We are currently enroute to Corusant and should arrive within the next 45 minutes. Perhaps we should join the others in the common room so we can talk." Bethany agreed with a nod and waved her arm into to hallway. "After you then. You saw the front, no need to stare at the back." Obi-wan led the way slightly flustered.

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On the bridge Anakin and Ashoka were sitting at a console in the corner of the common room, playing a game on a holo table. Captain Rex and a few other higher ranked clones were situated around the room, enjoying their free time before they reached Corusant.

Obi-wan and Bethany walked in, making the entire room swivel their vision on the duo. They both made their way to where Anakin and Ashoka were sitting and sat down. "Are you perhaps hungry?" Obi-wan asked trying to salvage the horrible first impression. "I'm famished actually." Bethany replied to his joy. "I shall get you something to eat then, though I'm afraid its a choice between soldier rations and, if it tickles your fancy, soldier rations."

"Can't be as bad as the grub I was forced to eat with the other troopers during campains." Bethany shrugged. Obi-wan made his way to the food dispenser while the other two Jedi remained seated. The rest of the room trying their hardest not to look completely interested in what they were about to discuss. The tension was nearly touchable.

Relief came from the young jedi at the table. "Hello!" The teenage tortugan girl said. "My name is jedi padawan Ashoka Tano, Master Skywalker told me you'd wake soon." Bethany looked at the girl, attempting to break the ice further. "Hello to you too. I am master Bethany Cross, pleased to meet you." "You're a master?" Came from Skywalker. So much for removal of tension. "Yes?" replied Bethany "Is that a problem?" The male Jedi straightened up, examining her. "You can't be much older than me, no one gets a masters rank that young." He pointed at a returning Obi-wan. "Master Obi-wan is currently the youngest master in the order, and he is well over thirty."

"I think there are more pressing questions than whether she is a master." Obi-wan said putting a plate with food infront of Bethany "Ofcourse leave it to you to catch on to that my old padawan." he said to Anakin. "Atleast he is not oggling my chest, master Pervert Kenobi." Bethany said in defense of the knight. Obi-wan recieved raised eyebrows from the entire room, the red returning to his face.

"I sense a wonderful story here!" Ashoka exclaimed grinning from ear to ear, like her master beside her. "Yes, and it wil be saved for another time! Like I said we have more pressing matter to handle." Obi-wan said in slight panic. Bethany merely grinned.

The conversation then turned serious, ignoring the slightly eavesdropping clones, Bethany started. "I understand that I was found by you guys frozen in ice in a meteor field. I don't remember the crash but I figured out that quite abit of time as passed since I ended up there. I am dying for some answers."

Anakin had a pensive look on his face as he asked "How long do you think you were in there?" Bethany looked at him and told of her hunch. "Well judging by the fact I don't know any of you while I should, especially you, " she pointed at Anakin "with a force power like that, I suspected 3 decades, maybe 3.5? Am I close? I hope not."

"Well you got the number right." Obi-wan grimaced "But its not decades. Its.. milenia."

Bethany lost her calm for moment. "Are you telling me, I have been in frozen in a hunk of ice for more than 3.5 THOUSAND years?"

Anakin spoke "Yes, judged from the dates we found on your holo logs and the design of your ship. Furthermore you are not known by any jedi alive either, which would be strange with your own force power as unsual as mine." He said. "Force power?" Ashoka asked. Bethany felt a force probe and saw the confusion on the padawan's face. "You measured her midiclorians master?" Ashoka asked. Anakin nodded and said "24500, that is higher then any jedi alive besides myself." Ashoka looked from her master to the new jedi in astonishment.

"So, just to make it clear. I am currently 3.5 thousand years into the future, from my perspective. That.. is a new one..." Bethany said weakly.

"Believe us, we were just as astounded." Obi-wan said. "We have confered with the current jedi council and they have told us to take you to the temple so we can get you up to speed and make some sense out of the situation."

This peaked Bethany's interest. "The temple? Then why are we enroute to Corusant? The temple there was destroyed during the sacking of Corusant a decade.." she paused reality hitting her "a decade and 3.5 thousand years ago."

"The temple on Corusant is currently our main temple," Anakin said "apart from small settlements in the mid- and outer rim that are for training."

"What happened to the temple on Tython?(*2) That was the main temple in my time, after its rediscovery."

"Tython?" Obi-wan replied. "Tython is a wasteland, filled with the darkside. There is no temple there." Bethany looked at Obi-wan with a both eyebrows up. "What do you mean no temple? Why would there not be a temple? Its the planet our order was founded!" At this the three other Jedi got a similar look as Bethany had before. "It seems an expedition to Tython is on the agenda Obi-wan." Anaking finally replied.

In need of more information Bethany dropped the subject and continued. "Then what about the current state of the galaxy. How is the Empire doing?" Obi-wan answered that question. "The Empire was destroyed 2 thousand years ago, and the sith a milenia after." No empire? No sith? Too good to be true. "Then why are we on a military cruiser, and while were at it, a cruiser full of what I assume are clones?" She asked sweeping her gaze across the room.

Captain Rex, who could no longer keep quiet spoke up. "Madam, You are currently on a ship that is serving in the Clone Wars. 2 years ago a movement within the Republic know as the Delegation of Indepented Systems declared war on the rest of the Republic. We as the Republics soldiers are fighting against the now known Seperatists and their droid army to restore peace to the galaxy." "And you are?" Bethany asked. Rex blinked and responded "Captain Rex, madam. Captain of the 501st clone division, under command of General Skywalker."

Bethany was about to inquire more but a clone voice came over the speakers above the door. "We are currently dropping out of hyperspace above Corusant. We will begin landing in a few moments and should arive at the Jedi hangars in 15 minutes."

"I say we save this conversation for when we are on the planet and with the whole council." Obi-wan said, rising. "For now lets strap in and land. Then get to the temple to continue." The three other jedi nodded in response and got up. Ashoka wispered to Bethany and Anakin when they were walking behind Obi-wan to the bridge.

"Master Pervert Kenobi?" Bethany just chuckled.

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*1 Master Jaris Kaedan, master Bela Kiwiiks and master Giffis Fane are three of masters on the council during SWTOR timeline. I may mention some of them later, when going into detail abit more on Bethany's backstory. Satele Shan is much more well known and will feature more in the story.

*2 Wookiepedia is abit vague about the 'current' state of Tython. In the Old Republic it was the Orders main base after the one on Corusant was destroyed, but the wiki said at one point the sith overtook it and the balance shift from light to dark caused the force on planet to turn it into a wasteland. It has mention of a training facility during the clone wars era but it is not confirmed. I'll go with the fact that the planet is forgotten and that the old temple is still there but abandoned.

There is chapter two. Drop a review if you can, feedback is much appreciated.

Loretwister out.


	3. Enter the Jedi

Hey, here I am again with a new chapter. A thank you to Venator88, .5851 and for leaving a review, those really help the writing. In anycase, without further ado here is chapter three. I hope you enjoy it.

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Bethany had to admit, the jedi temple on Corusant was amazing with its five spires reaching up high into the clouds. Despite the buzz and fuss of the planet that never slept the building radiated peace and calm.

The four of them had landed on the rebublic military base a few miles from the temple, where a special transport was waiting for them to take them to the temple, courtesy of the council. During their descend to the planet Ashoka had asked if Corusant was anything like she rememberd. "From this distance it looks pretty much like it looked 3.5 thousand years ago." Bethany had admitted. "Yes, it was the beating heart of the republic back then, it still is now." Anakin had commented. Bethany had disagreed "More like the smelly armpit of the Republic." Anakin had raised an eyebrow at this remark "I don't think the Senate would appreciate being compared to a smelly armpit." but Bethany countered. "The one thing power does best, is attract those seeking it. The Senate can pretend to be sophisticated pencil-lickers all they want, but the quality of a planet is judged by its citizens, and back in the day Corusant housed more lowlife scum and villians then most of the Hutt planets combined. I doubt its any different now."

"You don't like politicians? " Anakin had asked. With a smile Bethany replied "That depends on the politician."

Arriving at the jedi temple, Bethany and the three jedi stopped at a transport pad near the base of the building. On the platform several jedi were waiting to escort them to the council chamber. Bethany looked around the interior of the temple. High halls leading to countless of rooms, severel levels lined with balconys looking over the main corridor. It reminded her of the temple on Tython, but much smaller. Which was wierd because the temple was magnitudes larger than the one on Tython. But this one housed everything the jedi order did. Personal hangars, Schooling for the younglings and housing for all the jedi who were on Corusant at that moment. The official Temple of Thyton had only held the masters chambers and the council room aswell as the archives and some mediation rooms, with the rest being provided in other buildings on the planet. Bethany had a quick feeling of claustrophobia.

This may had to do with all the jedi present in the hall they were walking trough. News of her discovery and arrival had spread like wildfire trough the temple, and all who were in the temple could not resist to try and get a glimpse. Bethany felt numerous force probes from all around her. Jedi who were too curious to hold back for privacy's sake. The young master felt like a prized piece of livestock at auction and halfway trough the hall she had enough. She stopped, flared her force aura wildy and yelled "Stop probing me! Have some decency and show some respect!" Most jedi in the hall took a step back from the force wave she had released, including Obi-wan and Ashoka. Anakin was the only one who had been able to resist, a smile on his face. The jedi in the hall had quickly learned their lessons and the probes stopped, most of them scurrying away embarrased. "You know how to make friends" Anaking commented, Bethany just grumped and stalked away to the turbolifts they had been heading for.

When they reached the top they walked into the council room. A circular room which was smaller than the one on tython, She should stop comparing the two temples, and held twelve seats of varying sizes for the varying beings that were the current council members. During their transport ride, Obi-wan had learned her the council members names, to avoid a lenghty cycle of introductions. Currently in the room were seven masters with the other five tuning in via holo transmission. Obi-wan walked to this seat on the left and Anaking and Ashoka stood back, closing the circle at the entrance of the room. Bethany stepped up to the middle.

"Greetings, master Cross. And welcome to the Jjdi temple." Came from a male Korun jedi. Bethany believed Mace Windu was his name.

"Greetings to you too master Windu. But if I may ask, how do you know my name?" She asked. Obi-wan answered "After you told Anakin your name during the bried period you were awake, I took the liberty to inform the council of it so they could prepare for this meeting." Bethany nodded in acknowledgement.

"Preperations we needed." Master Ki-adi Mundi continued. "It's not everyday that we find one of our lost ones, especially those who have been gone for such a long time, and with such an interesting history." "I guess I am not your typical jedi." Bethany replied.

"That is putting it mildly," Master Windu spoke "you are the youngest master ever in the history of the order, a rank you obtained after an impressive career as a knight and even as a padawan. The jedi archives on Corusant don't have much information from before its founding. But the old holonet archives speak volumes, Hero of Tython?"

Bethany smiled "That title was given to me after I killed Darth Angral aboard his ship and stopped the destruction of Thyton by his superweapon." "Yes, the first sith lord in a line of many who fell before your blade." Master Luminara said. "Your prowess on the battlefield earned you a place on the council and a place among the legends of the order. But skill in combat does not make a master out of one." she added glancing behind Bethany towards Anakin, who's look turned sour.

"I hope I am misunderstanding master Unduli, but do you doubt my capabilities as a jedi master?" A frown found its way onto Bethany's face. "Much pride, I sense in you young jedi. Unbecoming of a master that is." master Kit Fisto added in defence of his fellow council member.

A new voice spoke. It came from the current grandmaster of the order, master Yoda. He spoke, fixing his gaze onto Bethany. "No pride, there is in young master Cross. Confidence, I sense. Sure of your skill and conviction you are, but willing to bend, if presented with a convincing cause."

He then adressed the rest of the council. "Doubt, the jedi of old we should not. Their descision it was, to make jedi Cross a master."

"This does leave us with a problem, master Yoda," spoke Windu "twelve master there will be to sit on the council, and twelve masters there are. While the circumstances are unique, we should not break such a tradtition."

Bethany responded "I understand that we are at war, masters. And in war death can come to even the most gifted among us. I am content not having a place among the council, until such a time that the council requires it of me. But I will not give up my rank as master when I have done nothing to deserve a demotion. Unless you fault me for leaving the order 3 millenia ago in a time of galactic war."

Obi-wan spoke "you do not strike me as irresponsible towards your commitment as a jedi. I sense that it was not your decision to dissapear, master Cross."

"Indeed, I don't recall my accident. My last memory is of me leaving the temple for a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. But I assure you, I was not planning on dissapearing."

"Decide on a solution, we should." Master Yoda spoke. "Those in favor of master Cross her own propostion?" The masters in the room nodded, agreeing to the plan.

"Very well, you shall retain your master title, jedi Cross. But until a place among us becomes vacant, you shall not sit in attendance on this council." Master Windu spoke. Bethany bowed "will that be all then masters?"

"No," Windu said "we still need to decide what to do with you. You spoke the truth when you said we are at war. We understand you have much experience in fighting wars and we could use your expertise."

"I am a jedi and swore an oath to protect the galaxy and keep the peace. I will not be stopping now, I do request however to give me a few days to settle."

"Handeling your situation, you are master Cross?" Yoda asked.

"Somewhat master. To me it seems like yesterday that I left for my mission but thousands of years have passed. Many things I took for granted are no longer here and many things I could not possible think of occuring are present. I feel confused and alone. Those who always provided me with guidance and help are no longer here."

Master Shaak-ti looked at Bethany with a look of sympathy. "I can only imagine what this must be like for you. Please know master Cross, that we will do all in our power to help you with this situation." "Thank you master." Bethany replied with a bow.

"For now, I think it is wise to have you accompanied by one of us, to help you get around and explain about the way things are. I think master Kenobi should do fine, since you already know him." Master Windu said. Bethany snorted. "My first impression of Kenobi was not great, but I think I can manage, granted he can keep himself in control. And knight Skywalker and his padawan were good company."

The masters in the room turned a questioning look towards the once again reddening Obi-wan. Anakin ans Ashoka tried to hide a knowing smile. "An unfortunate turn of events led our first meeting to be somewhat awkward. Master Cross seems keen to keep reminding me and those around me of it." Was all Obi-wan said. All the present masters could but wonder what that meant.

Master Windu ended the speculation there. "Very well. Master Cross, I once again welcome you to the temple and back into our ranks but this meeting will no longer require your presence. Knight Skywalker, your master will do the report on your last mission. Please accompany our new master trough the temple for today and arrange some accommodation." "Yes master." came his reply. Bethany bowed along with Anakin and Ashoka, and turned away towards the exit.

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Later that evening, Anakin was parking his speeder on a balcony at a tower known as 500 Republica. The tower, which housed a bunch of senators and high ranking officials of the Republic was the home to the love of his life and current secret wife. Padme Amidala-Skywalker saw Anakin entering trough her balcony door and flew into his arms. After a hug and a kiss she stepped back, hands on her hips. "Your late." She stated. "Your ship landed this morning and I had taken off the afternoon from the senate for you." "I know angel and I'm sorry. I had some very important bussiness at the temple the rest of the day and I couldn't sneak out under her gaze."

Padme raised a questioning brow at the 'her' in his story. "And who is this 'her'?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Padme." Anakin said. "Try me. Came the response.

Anakin started. "On our way back Obi-wan, Ashoka and I ended up in an uncharted meteor field. While we tried to get out we found a ship burried in one of the ice meteors. Due to a strange force wave we had felt earlier we decided to check it out. We found that it was not only a jedi ship predating back the the old republic, but we also found a jedi onboard, frozen in ice but still alive! We saved her and then learned that not only is she a old republic jedi, but also one of the strongest. The only jedi alive with more raw forcepower is yours truly and she is famous for her role in the old galactic war against the empire, earning the title 'Hero of Thyton'. To top it all off she is the youngest master ever appointed in the history of the order and is currently under mine and Obi-wan's guidance to get her back into the order."

Padme looked at him with an unbelieving look. "You expect me to believe that?"

"You're the one who said 'try me' but I swear angel, its true." Anakin said. "As if anything less strange would keep me from you for the day. If you still don't believe me the council will make a statement about it tommorow, informing the senate of a new master in our ranks and a new general to lead the clones." Padme sighed. "Fine, I believe you for now, doesn't mean I am any more pleased about sitting here all day waiting for you." She said turning around. Anakin wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. "Let me make it up to you then, my love."

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The next week flew by, as Bethany learned the ropes around the temple, always acommpanied by either Anakin or Obi-wan. The statement released by the council had whipped up a journalistic storm on Corusant. Several magazines, holoshows and other means of mass communication covered her on a daily basis. Digging into her past as 'The Hero of Thyton' and drawing ever more unlikely conclusions about her presence here. The latest was that the force itself had willed her to be here and had opened a portal to their time so that she could save the galaxy from the seperatists and end the clone wars.

Bethany took it with suprising ease. The jedi had quickly overcome their curiosity and stopped approaching her, leaving her to be. Except a few resilient younglings who could not stop asking her about her adventures. This was no different from the younglings back on Tython and Bethany had quickly fallen back into her role as 'mother jedi'. Helping in classes and spending time with them when they were on breaks. The rest of her time was spend in the archives, reading up on the past 3.5 millenia with the help of the friendly librarian master Jocasta Nu.

The literature about the Second Great Galactic War had been hard for Bethany to read, as she was still convinced that it was by her doing that the terrible war had come to be. And reading it had been the bloodiest war in the history of the galaxy did not help. She remembered going to master yoda for guidance on this.

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Stepping into the meditation room of the grandmaster, she found the little green man sitting one one of the cushions in the room, meditating together with master Windu. The small jedi had opened is eyes and looked at her asking "Come for guidance, you have master Cross?"

"Yes master Yoda, I'm having a hard time accepting some of the things I found while reading up on the past." "Perhaps we can be of assistance, or atleast hear you out." Master Windu said gesturing at an empty cushion next to them. Bethany nodded and sat down starting her story.

"Shortly after my knighting I was send to investigate an information leak on Corusant. It turned out that several weapon blueprints had been stolen from republic servers. In the end it turned out a sith had been undercover as a researcher to steal the weapon plans and get them to the Empire. I unmasked the sith and killed him in combat, saving the day I assumed. But this sith was Lord Tarnis, the son of Darth Angral who was one of the members of the Warcouncil of the Empire. Angral's wrath at the death of his son followed me across the galaxy and which let to the murder of my own master, master Orgus Din. He also planned to destroy the jedi with the superweapon designs his son had stolen from the republic. The same happened a few years later where I pursued the Emperor to put a stop to his plan to murder trillions of beings for his own power. I defeated the Emperor, which earned me my master title aswell as a Cross of Glory, the highest decoration the republic army had. I saved the galaxy that day. But the death of the Emperor meant the rest of the sith continued uncontrolled, sparking the second war."

Bethany looked up to the masters "I am a jedi, sworn to protect the beings of the galaxy. I was convinced that defeating Tarnis and stopping the Emperor was neccesary to preserve peace and protect the galaxy. But instead it created chaos, claiming billions of lives on both occasions."

"You wonder if it was the right thing to do?" Master Windu asked. Bethany shook her head "No master, I knew that I saved lifes when I defeated them. What I am struggling with is the fact that, in essence, I sacrificed lives in order to save those I did. It was my hand that made Angral and the rest of the sith act in vengeance upon the galaxy."

Yoda nodded. "Recognize, your struggle, I do. Strong, you are master Cross. But not all-powerful. Learn, you must that not every being in the galaxy can count on your help. At peace with your descisions, you should be."

"In essence, you made your descisions in order to save lifes, which is a noble act. The fact that it turned out those descisions didn't does not blemish your intention to do good. And aslong as you continue to strive to do good, no one will fault you." Windu added.

Bethany looked sad though. "Then was it worth it? Were all the lives lost worth it to feed my desire to do good?" "Look around, you should young one. That war ended and the Republic has known 2.5 millenia of peace. Your actions, contributed to this they have. In the end, the will of the force, prevail it will. Even if not see the result at the point of descision, we do." Yoda said.

"You are saying that in the end, the galaxy sorted itself out and always will? Thank you masters, you have helped me put things into perspective. I think I now see the fruits of my labor, even if its 3 millenia later. I don't think I can ever stop blaming myself for the loss of those lives, but I can learn to accept it and continue to strive for good."

"That is all that is asked of you as a jedi, master Cross." Windu said.

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After that week of rest and study Bethany was feeling restless and was walking around the temple without direction. She spotted Anakin walking with his padawan to the training rooms. Bethany increased her step to catch up to them and ask what they were planning to do. "Master is going to help me with my dual wielding." Ashoka said. "I recently obtained my second saber and I'm struggling to find balance." Bethany smiled "Mind if I join you then? I myself am an expert at dualwield lightsaber combat, maybe I can help." "Not at all master Cross!" Ashoka replied. "It would be a privilege to learn from a master duelist like you!" Anakin was less than pleased though "I'm pretty sure it is _my_ task to instruct _my_ padawan." "Afraid of some competition Skywalker? You don't know dualwield styles as well as I do. Ashoka can learn much more from me than from you in this case." Bethany said. "I doubt it. I am known for my skills with a saber from one end to the galaxy to the other." Anakin replied somewhat cocky. "I can teach Snips just fine."

"Boasting means nothing without proof. So how about a duel? Winner gets to teach your padawan." Bethany offered. "Sure, this should not take long." Anakin said turning to Ashoka. "Plenty of time to teach you after."

They made it into the training room, seeing that it was occupied with several younglings under the teaching eye of a master aswell as some knights training with their padawans. Bethany raised her voice "Excuse me everybody. Knight Skywalker here wishes to have his ass kicked by me. We need some space." Anaking gritted his teeth at the looks by the rest of the jedi in the room. Murmurs rolled until master Plo Koon spoke up. "Both of you are known for your skills with a saber. This would be a excellent opportunity for our learning members to observe two of the best duelist in the order engaged in combat." The rest of the jedi teachers agreed and so they all made their way to the sides of the large room, leaving enough space for the two Jedi. Anakin looked uncomfortable under the gaze of so many fellow jedi for a moment, and Bethany caught onto it. "What's wrong Skywalker? Can't preform in public?" She smirked. Anakin recovered "Hah, I was only contemplating how much I should hold back to make sure these young ones could actualy study my form." "I am going to feed you those words Skywalker, just give me a minute." Came the reply. "I think that is enough trashtalk from the both of you." Plo Koon interupted, "Please begin."

They took up position and Anakin grabbed his saber, igniting it with a hiss and getting into stance. Bethany however took a relaxed pose, holding her hand outstretched to her sides. With the force she pulled her lightsabers off her belt and into her hands, igniting them as they twirled into the right direction in her palm. Anakin took a step forward to begin the duel. Bethany however had no intention of walking and she used her signature force leap to jump into the air and onto Anakin, twisting in mid air to give extra momentum to her strike. Anakin barely had time to bring up his saber but blocked the first blow, with effort. He took a step back to regain ground but Bethany landed in a crouch before him and already had her blades posed to strike under Anakin's defences. One swipe was met with his blade, the second was hastily dodged. But before a counter attack could be made by Anakin the first blade was already advancing on his defenses. For a moment Bethany delivered strike after strike against a heavily defending Anakin who was forced to keep retreating back. That was until he hit the wall on one side of the room. He used the force to jump over her, making Bethany's lightsaber swipe against the wall, and tried to slash at her back. Bethany however had anticipated and blocked by turning her defending saber around in her hand and having it cross her back. She let the blue blade slide along her orange one, creating sparks as she pivoted on her heel and brought up her other blade to strike back.

Anakin dodged and used the force to leap back and regain his stance. Bethany stepped right to get onto Anakin's flank and once again used the force to leap onto him. Anakin had learned however and sidestepped the blow as he spun around and prepared to strike the crouching opponent. Bethany in turn brought her right saber up and parried the blow. Anakin was determined to continue his counter into an offense and twirled his blade around for an overhead strike. Bethany blocked by crossing her sabers high and stepped back out of reach from a leg flying to her chest for a kick. Both of them twirled their blades in their hand, standing at an impasse until Bethany went onto the offensive again. But Anakin had adapted to her quick slashes and used his blade to block two strikes right after eachother and then pushed, stepping into Bethany's reach with his saber ready and went for her neck. Bethany realised this as she drew her arm back, blocking Anakin's lightsaber at the hilt with her gauntlet. Her other lightsaber quickly drew back to deliver a stab but Anakin wisely stepped back from his assault to avoid it. Her outstretched arm was a prime target to disarm and Anakin slashed at it. Bethany however took advantage of her own disbalance and summersaulted on the spot, using the force to hold her in the air. The strike at her arm was missed and instead Anakin took the brunt of an overhead kick by a plasteel reinforced boot on his shoulder.

As Bethany stepped back she saw a disgruntled look on Anakin's face turn into one of excitement. She was a foe to be reckoned with, true to the legends. Bethany could not hold her own excitement as a smirk crossed her face. Many a sith had fallen to her blades, but Anakin was not only keeping up with her, but adapting and striking back expertly. She had to admit aswell that he was a not a foe to take lightly.

Their duel continued, neither of them willing to give in. The room around them filled with awe. 5 minutes turned into 10, and 10 into 30 as the two jedi kept at it without even the slightest sign of fatigue, each strike as fierce as the first ones in the duel, filling the room with a spectacle of orange and blue light clashing.

Infact there was no end in sight until a particular series of strikes from Anakin took Bethany by suprise. Anakin capitalized on the error, slashing quickly and hard and making Bethany lose her grip on her lightsaber which flew out of her hand and out of reach. Bethany looked shocked for a second and a look of triumph came over Anakin's face as he was sure to have gained the upperhand by getting rid of one blade. He stepped back and readied a strike to finish the duel. However Bethany was far from defeated. While Anakin took his step back she gathered a large amount of force in her now free hand. As the overhead strike came down, she blocked with her remaining saber and pushed her hand under Anakin's sword and into his chest. The blow, aided by the force flung Anakin back and into the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs. Recuperating from the blow he looked up to see his opponent not taking a breath but instead gathering force once again and leaping towards him. Movement from the corner of his eye showed the disarmed saber fly back into Bethany's hand. He had no time to bring his own lightsaber up in defence as both orange blades embedded theirself into the wall next to his head, lightsabers crossed on his throat. With a ragged breath he heard Bethany call "Yield?" He looked at his opponent, fatigue crawling onto her face as her facade of strenght fell down. But his own breath was labored by fatigue and the blow against his chest, and he had no way to counter Bethany anymore, with much disappointment he told her "I yield."

Bethany stepped away, disengaging her lightsabers and clipping them to her belt. Anakin slid down the wall into a sitting position, trying to regain his breath and he saw Bethany kneel down to do the same. As the two jedi sat there, regaining their strenght the room around them came back into their mind. The silence in the room was penetrating, no one had ever seen such a display of skill and determination. The room had also filled up more, as the news of their duel had spread across the temple. Bethany stood and extended her hand to Anakin, which he took. The both of them stood and turned to the people in theroom, silence still reigning.

That was until one youngling overcame is amazement and put his hands together, clapping for the preformance. Several other younglings joined him and soon the entire room, even the masters were clapping for the two jedi.

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There you go, word count just keeps on climbing per chapter. But I just could not stop writing that last scene. Next chapter will hold the aftermath to it as I figured I should keep the chapters under 5k words. I have read some fiction with more than 10k words per chapter and those can be exhausting to read.

I am personally finding it hard to not write my Bethany, since it is my OC as a Mary Sue. I try to make her look imperfect in her being (and as a jedi) and having her deal with some struggles of being a prodigy. I would like to know if or when she starts looking like a Mary Sue so I can correct in another chapter. Until then, drop a review if you want, the feedback is much appreciated.

Loretwister out.


	4. First mission, oh my!

Hey guys, welcome back for another chapter. I had to bend some facts quite far for this chapter, especially for the first half. So don't go pointing it out, the story has an AU tag for a reason.

Enjoy.

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Bethany spotted Anakin walking from the communal dining rooms in the temple with a sour on his face. It had been there since the afternoon, after their duel in the training rooms. Bethany had been ever so gracious in her victory, slapping Anakin on his back and grinning madly "Well Skywalker, I hope you don't have anything permanent from all that ass I kicked." Anakin just grumbled. Ashoka and master Plo Koon walked up to them as the clapping stopped gradually. "That was amazing master Cross!" Ashoka exclaimed "I have never seen anyone fight master Skywalker like that and also walk away victorious. Not even master Kenobi can do that and he is Anakin's old master." Bethany accepted the compliment with a smile and that seemed to piss off Anakin even more.

Ashoka saw this and said "oh come on master, don't look so sour. You are one of the best duelist in the order but its nice to see someone give you a challenge for once, instead of you dominating the training room."

"Indeed, you both displayed extraordinary amounts of skill in this duel," master Plo said "but I am unfamiliar with the style you used master Cross." Before Bethany could answer master Windu spoke. "I saw much of the Juyo style in it, which is my own style and rarely used in the jedi order. But I have never seen it used with dual lightsabers."

"You are correct master Windu. I am one of the few practitioners of the Juyo style but I crossed it with elements of the dualwield style of Niman. (*1) Juyo is too erratic and requires too much strenght to use with two sabers. But by applying Niman style techniques it became managable. In the end it removed the backdraws of dualwielding by adding the strenght from Juyo but the influence of the relaxed Niman style alowed me to gain more control, making the form safer to use."

"Are you saying you developed a new lightsaber style, at your age?" "No master. I see it as an application of dualwielding to the Juyo form. Also it remains a hard style to learn even among the most gifted. The fact that I can fight with this form is because I am deemed a lightsaber prodigy. I was far ahead of my fellow younglings back in the day. I trained with padawanss of knight Skywalker's age when I was just 10 years old. The jedi masters on Tython told me it must come from my Mandalorian blood."

"You are Mandalorian?" Anakin spoke for the first time since the duel. "Yes Skywalker, I was born on Mandalore and lived there until I was 7. Then the jedi came fo me." "That is quite old to begin training." master Plo said.

"Is it? Back in the day the Jedi accepted trainees from all ages. You must remember that a great war had just ended, we were in the middle of a cold war and the sith and their Empire claimed half the galaxy, making it hard for the jedi to locate all force sensitive children and get them into the jedi ranks. Especially when the sith were attempting the same. It was prefered to have force sensitives join our ranks as young as possible, but older candidates were not turned down. My own padawan infact didn't come to the temple until she was 16. My own case was rare because relations between Mandalore and the jedi were still strained."

"Very interesting master Cross," master Windo pondered "we might have to discuss this old development with the council, since our own numbers are dwindling due to this war. In anycase, if the fighting alows it I would like to meet with you sometime and discuss this new application of Juyo. I can only imagine what would come out of your adapted style combined with my Vapaad technique. We can learn much from eachother." master Windu said. "I would like that master Windu, I am always ready to improve my swordsmanship. Also, I believe I won our bet Skywalker, so I'll be taking your padawan now and see if we can improve her dualwielding." Ashoka beamed at the prospect.

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Bethany followed the sulking Anakin she had found that evening to one of the terrace gardens, where she saw him sitting next to one of the fountains staring up at the sky, contemplating. The jedi master walked up to knight and stood infront of him, Anakin's look turned sour again. "Here to gloat some more, Cross?" he snapped. "Why yes, she replied. "I want to see if I can turn that frown ever so slightly more sour." In response Anakin's frown deepened.

"You know, sulking is unbecoming of a jedi." Bethany said casually. "What?! Not had enough when you beat me in combat, now you're also going to lecture me on being a jedi?" the angered response came. "I'm lecturing you on the fact that your acting like a child. Just because I beat you does not mean you are a bad fighter. But all you see if your defeat and decide to throw a tantrum because of it, like a child. No correction, I have seen initiated younglings taking defeat with more grace."

Anakin jumped up and towered above her. "What the Kriff do you know, miss perfect jedi." "Who ever said I was miss perfect jedi?" Bethany responded back heated. "All I know is how to swing a lightsaber, and only a little better than you. To little if you ask me."

Anakin's rage receded and was replaced by confusion so Bethany explained, a grim look forming on her face. "You disarmed me. You found a hole in a defence that no jedi or sith has been able to exploit and kriffing disarmed me. What I learned from that dual is that I'm good, but not good enough. Next time we fight I promise i'll crush you!"

Anakin yelled back in challenge "As if, next time you will be on your knees before you can draw those fancy orange sabers of yours." Bethany looked him in the face glaring. Clear blue orbs, fire sparking within them, staring into her icy eyes.

She decided to change tactic. Doc would be proud of her for this one. She raised her hand and patted him on the cheek "Sorry my dear jedi knight, but you'll need atleast a fancy dinner and some flowers before you can get me on my knees." Anakin was taken by suprise sputtered, stepping back. "Not like that! You know what I mean!" Bethany just laughed out loud at the startled look on his face and turned around, walking away. "I'll see you in the training room then, I'm always up for a fight."

While she walked away, Anakin deflated with his anger gone now and he got a thoughtful look on his face. Her words ran trough his mind. She considered him a challenge. She wasn't as powerful as he tought her to be after she beat him and instead she vowed to get better to make sure he would never gain so much ground again. With all the hype from the rest of the jedi and the media, Anakin had adapted the same opinion that she was some divine being that could save systems with a wave of her hand. A challenger to him as 'The Chosen One'. But the duel, now that he looked at it more objectively, was pretty even, with her winning due to his own fault when he asumed he had won after he disarmed her. Combined with their talk just now showed nothing of that presumption about her. It only showed a determined woman who always strived for better. Quite like himself.

Acting on this relevation he shouted before she was out of earshot "master Cross!" The jedi in question turned around to him again. "You fight really well, I really hope we can duel again sometime."

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Two day's later, Bethany was summoned to the council chamber. To her suprise Anakin and Ashoka were also there. The three of them stepped up into the middle of the room and bowed before the masters. "Welcome, master Cross, knight Skywalker and padawan Tano. We have a mission for the three of you." Master Windu said.

"All three of us master?" Anakin asked. "Yes, Unfortunatly the Senate was more skeptical about master Cross's reappearance and does not believe in her skills as mush as we do. She will not be given solo missions until they have proof of she can preform the role of general adequately."

Bethany looked offended "What do you mean preform my role as general adequately? I fought in the greatest war this galaxy has seen and was a general for the republic army back then. My track record should more than suffice for proof! Why does the Senate have a say in which jedi our council wants to send on a mission in the first place?"

"We do not agree with the Senate, master Cross. The past week you have shown us you are quite capable in combat and intelligent enough to lead forces. But we figth alongside their army. And therefor they have a say in who commands their troops." Bethany did not look any more pleased though.

"What is our mission, masters?" Anakin asked. "Your mission is to Charros IV(*2). Intelligence has found proof that this system is housing large vulture droid factories, building the flying droids for the seperatist." Obi-wan said. "If we can disable these factories we deal a crippling blow to the Seperatist's advances on the core worlds. Aswell as cut off supply of vulture droids for the current fleets."

"We know that master Cross has experience in infiltration, having done alot of these missions for the old republic. Correct?" "Yes masters, during the cold war I did alot of sabotage and infiltration to stop the Empire."

"Good, you three will take one company of clones, handpicked by you, and enough charges to blow the factories sky high. We will provide transport up until the nearby system of Togoria. It is a Seperatists sytem but relatively low-tech. The Seperatists will think we are attacking Togoria instead of Charros IV and advance their fleet to the aid of the Togorians. The cruiser will drop you and then hide in a meteor field a few parasec away from the planet to avoid further detection. You will take a small transport to Charros IV and infiltrate the bases." Windu said explaining the plan.

"We can take the Minerva, my light corvette. It is done with repairs and upgrades right?" Bethany said looking over to Anakin who nodded. "Its going to be a squeeze with the clones but its a fast ship, and more importantly not in the Seperatists data base as a Republic ship. Or atleast I assume so, It will make getting on the planet much easier."

"What will we do if we get stuck on the planet?" Anakin inquired. "I don't doubt master Cross her ship, but once we blow the factories the seppys are going to be after us."

"We will hack the communications on the planet, and signal our transport cruiser to start an assault and pick us up. If the factories are gone the planet should have minimal defences." Bethany suggested. "Very well, if you find yourself in need of extraction you can use that plan." Master Windu said. "You will be leaving first thing in the morning. For now, go prepare for the mission. You are dismissed." The three jedi bowed and walked out of the room.

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Anakin was sitting at the controls of the Minerva, currently in the docking bay of the Ptolomy, a Republic cruiser. They had left Corusant that morning and were currently getting into orbit of Togoria. Their drop was supposed to be in 40 minutes and Anakin was running the pre-flight checks. Captain Rex was standing just outside the ship briefing his troops, who were all veterans and highly skilled, according to the captain. Bethany walked into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot seat to help Anakin with the checks.

"So you ready for some fun Skywalker?" She said. "Always am Cross, but please its Anakin. Were not at the temple so just call me by my name. I hate all the formality, even more so on a mission." "Only if you call me Bethany then." The woman in question said smiling.

"Anyway," Anakin continued "are _you_ ready for some action? You haven't been in a battlefield for 3 thousand years." "To me it was only 2 weeks ago that I came back from my campain on Correlia. And you know all too well I'm not what you'd define as rusty." Anakin laughed as he finished the last check and got up to walk to the holoterminal room. There they found Ashoka aswell as the clones waiting. The tortuga girl was currently comming the council who were with the chancellor for the last briefing.

The terminal came to life as four beings were projected. Master Windu, master Obi-wan, master Yoda and Chancellor Palpatine. "Greetings masters, Chancellor." Anakin said. "We are all ready to go on this end." "That is marvelous Anakin my boy." the Chancellor spoke. "And this must be the illustrious master Cross?" He asked looking at Bethany. "In the flesh." She replied. "I have heard alot from you over the holonet. Meeting you personally like this makes me sure that they did not exaggerate." He said with a smile.

'Yet not sure enough to give me a general rank despite being a recognised master and general from the old republic?' Bethany thought, but refrained from speaking. She fixed an icy stare on him though. The Chancellor looked taken back, not expecting the lack of reaction. "In anycase," she said turning to the masters, ignoring the Chancellor "anything we need to know before we commence the mission?"

"Nothing master Cross, the latest intell does not suggest any necessary changes in the plan." "Very well then, may the force be with you masters." Bethany said. The masters looked uneasy at the abruptness Bethany wanted to end the conversation and the chancelor looked on with contempt at the, in his eyes, impudence of this woman. "Alright. Master Cross, knight Skywalker we hope for your swift return and may the force be with you." Before anyone could say anything more Bethany switched the holoterminal off.

"That was rather.. rude towards the Chancellor." Ashoka said unsure. Bethany merely shrugged. "He can file a complaint with the council if he is unhappy with me." "You should show some respect towards him Bethany," Anakin reprimanded "he is the Supreme Chancellor of the republic." "Well, I don't like him." Bethany merely replied.

Anakin was about to retort but Captain Rex interrupted. "Excuse me Generals, but we must be underway." "Ofcourse Rex," Anakin said "get your men settled in. Me and general Cross will pilot the ship once were free of the cruiser and will be in the cockpit. Until we arrive refer to commander Tano if you need anything." The clones saluted and Anakin and Bethany made way towards the cockpit.

Moments later Bethany fired up the engines and flew the Minerva out of the docking bay. Plotting the vector course for Charros IV and switching on the Hyperdrive engine. Dotted stars turned into lines as the ship accelerated. "Computer says we will be at our destination in one hour." Anakin said. Bethany nodded, leaning back in her chair. Silence reigned in the cockpit for a few moments before Anakin couldn't take it anymore and tried to start a conversation. "So what do you usually do before a battle?" "I meditate, to get more focus on the task at hand." Bethany replied. "Or I'd small talk with Kira until we arrived." "Who is Kira?" Anakin asked.

"My old padawan.." Bethany said getting a sad look on her face being reminded of her old friend. Anakin noticed this and asked "Whats wrong?"

"I'm fine, just reminiscing. Kira was only 3 years younger than me. We were more sisters than master and padawan and went trough alot together. What I miss the most are her snarky and sarcastic comments. Kept the tension off." Bethany smiled with a far away look.

Anakin didn't know what to say so instead kept quiet. The hour flew by in a blink and soon they dropped out of hyperspace. Bethany plotted a vector towards the surface where surveillance had found the factories. "Your plotting the vector wrong, we'll overshoot the landing zone like this." Anakin said. "And how are we going to fly in undetected anyway?

"Watch and learn Skywalker." Bethany replied. Once she had calculated the vector she flew into its path and quickly turned off all engines and system except for the lights and life-support. The ship began to slow down, but with the angle and the gravitational pull the ship went into the correct vector.

"The Seperatist scanners don't recognise this ship's contours. And when they detect no engine heat or powerflow they'll think its just a piece of debris. We'll re-fire the engines once were under the planetary radar and then land."

"So you're just throwing us at the surface hoping we can correct at the last possible moment?" Anakin asked startled. "Correct," Bethany said grinning. "I heard rumors that you are the best pilot in the galaxy, so go ahead and show me your skills." Anakin blinked and then grinned back, grabbing the controls over from Bethany and readying the ship for the landing. The ship kept increasing in speed as it fell towards the planet. Ashoka ran up to the cockpit yelling "What the hell are you two doing!"

"Relax Snips, Bethany and I have this under control." Anakin said matter of factly. "Ok, we are in the atmosphere, starting the engines again." Bethany said. The ship came back to life and Anakin pulled he steering stick towards him to glide into an arc and decrease speed enough not to crash. The ship started to shake from the air friction and several alarms started going off. At the last possible second right before the ship hit the ground, Anakin got it back under control. He hovered the ship to some dense folliage and landed expertly.

"Nicely done Anakin." Bethany said with a smile. Ashoka was not able to speak, her face white as a sheet as she was clutching her master's seat. "Don't ever do that again please. _Ever!_" She managed finally. The other two jedi just laughed.

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After disembark the jedi and the clones moved towards the closest structure the had seen from the ship, which was a comm tower. They quickly got inside and powered trough the few droids and technicians guarding the place. R2-D2, who had come with them on the mission rolled to a console and went into the system. "Artoo, try and get a map of the place, aswell as known patrol routes and points of interest. But don't get detected." Anakin said. Artoo whirled and did as asked. Soon he rolled back and projected a map. The jedi and clones gathering around it to study it.

"The planet has three facilities. Two main production lines and one back up." Rex pointed out. "Yes, and they are powered by one generator complex which is over there." Bethany added pointing at the map.

"It'll be impossible to take out all three facilities, once we blow the first they'll know were here and try to stop us." Ashoka said. "Not necessarily, Anakin responded "the facilities themself have large energy containers so they can keep running for some time if the power generator goes down for maintenance. If we can sabotage these energy silos we can use the main generators to overload them and blow them up."

"Excellent plan," Bethany said "we will split in three groups and go to the factories to sabotage the silos in stealth. Once all three are taken care of, we move to the generator complex and blow it up. Destorying the factories along with it."

"Okay, who goes where?" Anakin said. Bethany responded. "I will take this first main factory, Anakin and Ashoka the second main one and the clones will go the empty back-up factory."

"With respect general Cross, it'll be impossible to get in there alone." Captain Rex commented.

"No it won't. Artoo should be able to hack the planetary sensors and send a fake sensor reading of us landing a good few clicks away. The defence forces will respond and move to intercept the fake us. That will remove most of the defenders. After we have sneaked in and sabotaged the silos, one of our groups will get themselfs detected and turtle into the factory. The droids will assume we got past their defence force and aim for that facility in retaliation. The other two groups will then move the the power station and take it out. This also goes for when one of us gets detected prematurely."

"But once we blow the generators the people in that facility will go down with it. We need a way to warn them." Anakin said.

"Yes, We will sync comms on my old frequency so we can keep in contact. The Seperatists will not reconize the data coding and ignore it as static. Just warn the one left in a facility before you blow the generator."

"You sure know your stuff, general Cross." one of the clones said. Bethany smiled at him "I did this kind of stuff alot back in the day. And back then it was against highly trained Imperial soldiers instead of droids and technicians. This is childsplay."

"I agree with the plan," Anakin said "Any objections?" No response came and so they set to work. "Syncronize comms on my command," Bethany said "3..2..1.. now!" The jedi and clones pressed their comms and all of them bleeped, showing sync was succesful. Artoo hacked the sensors and they walked outside the comm tower.

"May the force be with you all." Bethany said. "And with you, Bethany." Anakin replied. Bethany nodded one last time and then leaped into the bushes, on her way to her droid factory.

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*1 I'm not sure about all the lightsaber forms, but in the game I ran with a talent tree that relied on the Juyo form. I made up the combining with Niman to help it fit better with the story.

*2 Wookiepedia mentioned that this sytem build vulture droids for the seppys during the clone war, and it said at some point the jedi came to the planet to stop it. This is where I got my idea for the first mission from, but the way i'm handling it is not cannon, same with Togoria.

Wooh! Action chapter coming next. I can't wait to sink my teeth into it. In anycase, leave a review if you want and until next time.

Loretwister out.


	5. Into the maw of the Vulture droid

Welcome back again everyone, this chapter took longer than expected. Finals and report writing filled the most of my time lately as we are nearing the end of the university year here where I live. But I'm nearly done with all that so expect more updates the coming weeks!

For now, enjoy chapter 5.

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Curse theses trees, curse this mud, curse this stupid planet!

Bethany fumed as she pulled her leg out of the soft mud, desperately attempting to keep up her speed. She had taken the target to sabotage which was the furthest away from their landing zone and the comm tower they had hijacked. To keep her precence hidden from the planet's inhabitants she had to move through the undergrowth of the planet, instead of using the durasteel lanes that crossed the planet for supplying the factories.

Bethany glanced at her comm device and it showed she had been on the move for 45 minutes now. The distance on the map from Artoo had suggested it would take her about an hour to get to her target, which was longer that the rest. It was key to start their infiltration at the same time, to confuse the defenders if they were noticed. Grimacing, Bethany sped up her pace and continued on towards her target.

If only she could use her speeder. Alas, a speeder would make too much noise cutting through the terrain here. Back in the day she would hop onto it for the tiniest of distances, even if it wouldn't save time. She always used the excuse that she would have more strenght to fight once she arrived at her destination but deep inside she knew she was just lazy.

Having cut 5 minutes of her time by using the low hanging branches in the trees to increase her speed, Bethany arrived at the factory. Stopping just inside the shadow of the treeline she took a moment to catch her breath. Pulling out a set of small binoculars, she scanned the facility for any opening confirming what she saw with her map.

The building was large, three main domes ontop of high wall buildings made up the majority of the factory. Around them was a wall just as high as the building's walls and it had heavily patrolled walkways on the top. The corners of the perimeter aswell as the two gates were reinforced with guard towers, manned with heavy lasor turrets. From the treeline, Bethany could see the insectoid inhabitants and their droids walking around on the wall, securing the perimeter. The gates themself had heavy durasteel doors and even more turrets guarding it.

In short, there was no way of sneaking through the main entrance. Luckily Artoo's maps had been very detailed and Bethany soon spotted her way in. On the east side of the factory, she was currently facing the south, there was a pipeline running through the wall, transporting waste material and waste liquid from the factory. The pipe went into the forest where it would dump the waste. Bethany figured she could get to the pipe, slice it open at a valve point and get into the factory via that route. Deciding to atleast check it out, she moved again.

To her luck Bethany was right. While the pipe wasn't large enough to walk through, she could duck and crouch her way into the factory. The only problem would be if the pipe was too full with its waste or under pressure so it was not possible to move against the flow. Bethany swept her surroundings for hostiles before she walked up to the pipe and stabbed her lightsaber into it. Pulling it right out to see if any substance would come streaming out.

Luckily it didn't, meaning the pipe was only halfway full and only showing a weak flow. Cutting the durasteel pipe so the hole was large enough for her to climb in, she descended into the stinking pipe. It was completely dark inside the pipe, but it according to the maps it didn't branch until inside the factory so she wouldn't get lost in all the crap. On her way Bethany encountered several grates blocking her way. But they were not electrified or in any other way protected. The factory builders probarly never considered having an enemy come into the facility this way. Then again they probarly never expected it to be a one man army in the form of a jedi either.

Bethany went on until she found a split in the pipe network. It snaked out into three directions but two of them would be too small for her to fit in so the choice was simple.

Guessing her position in the factory she pulled out her holo for her map, temporarily blinded by the sudden light inside the dark tunnel. The map couldn't show her exact location, since any form of GPS would give away her position. But with retracing her steps she could make a rough guess of where she was. She moved along the third pipe to what she assumed was the main assembly line where most of the fabrication of parts was taking place. It seemed logical since assembly of a droid produced much less waste than production of parts and would therefor not require the large size waste pipes like the one she was in now.

Bethany soon came to a dead end, a pump installation was blocking the tunnel and her way. But a pump meant a maintenance hatch so she began feeling the pipe walls for a way out, guided by her jedi instinct. She found it after going around the pipe twice. It was a hatch attached to the pipe by two bolts, functioning as a lock. From the inside they were pretty easy to slice with a lightsaber, unlocking the hatch and giving Bethany access to the factory.

Slowly opening the hatch, grateful that it didn't squeek, she peered through the slit to see what was going on. She saw several conveyor belts running parrallel to the pipe with several vulture droid parts in various states of construction. The belts were moving slow, having machines and tools automatically welding, cutting and preforming a whole lot more tasks to the droid parts. Closing her eyes for a moment Bethany sensed her surroundings for any lifeforms.

Finding none near she carefully opened the hatch further and slipped out. Hiding behind the moving droid parts she peered around the massive hall. Several insectoid workers were overseeing the construction, aided by some construction droids. She didn't spot any battle droids for which Bethany was grateful. Workers were easily dealt with if neccesary and it meant she could lock herself into the factory when she would blow her cover according to the plan. It would make keeping the battle droids out much easier.

Using the force she jumped, swung and crouched to the side of the room via the roof beams, finding a new hiding spot in between droid parts that were waiting for transport to the other sections of the factory. Opening her map once again she checked her position and tried to determine a route to the target. Unfortunately her luck had run out as she found that the energy silo was to the other side of the hall. She would have to make it through this production hall and then through a couple of hallways where their was little to no cover. Then into a adjacent building where the energy was stored. The layout of the place was to her advantage though, with the factory having the energy stored in the middle of the facility and the assembly and production halls surrounding it. The explosion would take out the entire facility. Now just to figure out how to get there.

She considered causing a scene, like using the force to block an assembly line and have all the workers attention on it, but she discarded the idea because that would mean engineers from other departments walking through the hallways coming to asssist. She then checked for ventilation shafts but found that they were too small for her to fit it. Droids didn't need air and it appeared these insectoid engineers didn't need much either.

Luckily her salvation rolled into the room. It was a hover platform, made to transport the droid parts, coming to pick up more pieces of droid. It stopped near her position and Bethany took her chance. She used the force to make one part fall over when the crane on the ceiling, which would pick up the parts and move them onto the platform, past by and this distracted the workers enough to have Bethany roll under the hover platform unseen. She could hear the engineers in the room arguing about the fallen part, their language consisting of rythmic clicking of their pincers. Bethany smirked and waited for the platform to be loaded.

Once the platform was loaded and started moving agian, she grabbed an exposed beam under the platform and let it drag her away. There was one problem though. The weight of the droid parts had lowered the platform much closer to the ground, making it impossible to roll out again when she would pass her exit to the energy silo.

Bethany examined the underside, trying to find a weakspot. If she could disable the gravity repulsors on one side, the platform would tip, dropping the droidparts that were on it and creating yet another distraction. She would have to do it at a range though else the disabled side would crash onto her and end this mission very quickly. While still being dragged along Bethany maneuvered her body using the exposed beam and found a small cover. She pulled it off, exposing a bunch of wires. Slicing these would surely stop the repulsor from working. With a stroke of genius Bethany moved back to the other side. Then she used the force to grab and ignite her lightsaber and hover it towards the wires.

She waited for the moment when she would reach the hallway corridor leading to the silo and stabbed her lightsaber into the wires. The burned circuitry disabled the repulsors and the platform came down on that side. Bethany quickly force-pulled her lightsaber back and felt her side lift up due to the lost weight, accompanied with a massive rumble of falling droid parts. She heard the workers screech and took the distraction to get out under the platform, get up and dash into a room closeby. She closed the door behind her and found she was in a storage room.

Turning back and opening the door slightly she watched as the workers and their droids were standing with their backs towards her, looking at the mess in the hall and deciding how to clean it up. They had not seen their uninvited guest and were none the more wiser as she slipped out of the room and through the hallway. Also the crash had knocked out a powerline, so the hallway was now barely lit. Hugging the wall, trying to stay in the shadow of the poorly lit hallway she made it to the energy storage hall.

Inside was a massive cylinder holding the energy. Connected to it was a maze of tubes and wires leading into consoles and monitors.

Bethany only found two sentients in the room talking to eachother, probarly about the mess in the hallway. Sneaking up on them, she ignited her lightsabers which went into their chest. Their eyes shot open in suprise and pain, but they were not able to utter a sound with their lungs being blocked by lightsabers in them. The bodies went limp and dropped on the ground. Bethany walked away from them and made to the door to close and lock it. After having done just that, she examined the Silo.

Bethany found a snag in her so far perfect plan. She wasn't an expert on technology and had no clue how to sabotage this thing. Pondering for a moment she tried to comm one of the other groups. Anakin picked up the comm and started whispering "what?! I'm in the middle of hotwiring this silo."

"Good, I need help with that." Bethany said. "You don't know how to sabotage these things?" Anakin said sounding amused.

"Wipe that smug look I know you have off your face and just tell me what to do." Bethany hissed. She heared a laugh coming from the other side, followed by Anakin explaining how to hotwire the silo.

After following Anakin's instructions and reversing the transistors in the silo, apparently, Bethany slammed the maintenance hatch closed, hiding the evidence that the silo had been tampered with. At that moment a new voice came over their comm, the voice of Captain Rex.

"Mission accomplished generals. Target is sabotaged, 12 kills 0 casualities." He said. "Not really stealth if you had to kill 12 people to get there Rex." came the voice of Anakin.

"Apologies sir, armor isn't the best stealth attire, but out of curiosity, did you have to kill any?" The captain responded. "Me and Ashoka had to take care of only 5 of them, and our location was actually in use." Anakin boasted. A displeased huff came from Rex.

Bethany decided to interupt "Gentlemen please, you can continue comparing genitalia size after were done here. We are far from done and two of us still have to get back out and get to the reactor." The first thing Bethany heard was a stifled giggle, probarly from Ashoka.

"Apologies general Cross," Rex then said. "Me and my men can easily get back out, and make a move on the generator." "Same for us." came from Anakin.

"Very well, I'll spring the alarm here and draw the attention of the factory personnel. Comm me again once you are at the generator and are starting your assault. There is no need for stealth at that point, and it will give me enough time to barge out of this place."

"Understood, Ashoka and I are on our way." Anakin said. "Understood ma'am" came from Rex.

"Oh and for the record," Bethany added "I assaulted this place alone and only had to kill 2 guards." And with that she switched her comm off.

00000

A good few minutes later, Bethany found herself knee deep in droid parts and insectoid limbs. Lightsabers humming in her hand as she deflected one laserbullet after the other and kept charging into the factory workers.

Tripping the alarm wasn't hard. She just walked back into the hallway where she had made the mess with the hover platform and casually strolled into the the workers and onlookers, ingniting her lightsabers and stabbing the first few in the chest like the two in the silo room.

After that the factory quickly went into code red and alarms started blaring. Continuing on her rampage, Bethany tried her hardest not to kill any of the planet's inhabitants, but rather injury them as she tried to make her way to the supervision tower in the middle of the facility near the energy silo.

The insectoids were in league with the seperatist, sure. But they remained sentient beings and just killing them because they stood in her way was going against what she stood for as a jedi. This did mean her progress was slower than hoped, and she just about made it to the top of the tower before her comm went off. She picked up and heared Ashoka's voice through the noise of laserbullets being fired, orders being shouted and lightsabers humming.

"Master Cross, were all set here. We are close to the generator and are ready to blow it." "Ok Ashoka, give me 10 minutes to get out of the factory, then blow it and get back to the ship." "Yes master." came the padawan's reply.

Putting away her comm she looked back at the durasteel door she had forced closed by stabbing her lightsabers into the hinges and melt them shut. She could now hear her attackers using welding tools to try and get the door open. They probarly thought she had involuntarily trapped herself into the tower. Oh how wrong they were.

Just when the droids got through the door, Bethany walked to one of the tower windows, and broke it with her blade. She then proceeded to jump out of the tower, using the force to cushion her fall as she landed on the roof of one of the three domes. Then with a mad dash and an impressive leap she jumped from the dome and over the perimiter wall with a summersault.

But some droids were still guarding the walls, and they had started firing at her the moment they had spotted her on the dome, the structure not providing any cover and making her an easy target.

While Bethany avoided the hail of laser while she ran, when she was jumping and was in mid air she could not twist her body fast enough to dodge the bullets and so one of the droids got lucky and shot her. The laserbullet went into her thigh, electing a shout of pain from her mouth.

This accident made her landing near the tree line less than graceful and she stumbled and fell as soon as she touched the ground, her one leg not being able to support her landing. Laying there on the gound in pain was not an option though. The droids on the wall leaned over the crenellations and started raining laserbullets onto her.

Getting up clumsily and with one last stumbling sprint and she was back in the shadow of the trees and out of sight of the factory. Out of breath from so much force exertion and in pain from her shotwound she sunk down against a tree and commed the others. "I'm out" is all she said before dropping the comm again.

She had to wait not even a few seconds as she heared and felt a large explosion behind her. The shockwave carried through the trees and she felt the bark of the tree she was hiding behind bend from the force. Then the heat came, along with the sound of more explosions and Bethany figured that moving from her spot behind the tree would be a good idea. Getting to her feet she started in a slow pace towards the coordinates of her ship.

About halfway to her ship she had to stop for a moment, the pain in her thigh being too much for the jedi master. She dropped down against a tree again. Counting her luck that the survivors of the explosions were not looking for her. The defence force they had diverted with their fake sensor reading was still out of there though, but they should be far enough to not be a problem. Apparently her concept of time was twisted by pain and exhaustion because at that moment her comm went off again. "Bethany were are you?! You should have made it back by now, the army we diverted is closing in!" Anakin yelled.

Bethany cursed, this would be a problem. She replied "I'm injured, I am about halfway there but I can't make it in time. Lift off and get off the planet."

A silence reigned on the comm line. "We are not leaving you behind." came the late reply of Anakin. Bethany grimaced, not in the mood. "You're not leaving me behind. But you can't take on the army on your own. Get back to the cruiser and get backup. Then come and play knight in shining armor."

"But that'll take hours! You are injured and in hostile territory. You won't last that long." Anakin protested. Bethany lost her cool then. "Knight Skywalker! Stop trying to be a damned hero. There is no point in going down with me. Go and get backup, I'll survive until you get back."

"The entire planet is looking for us, if we leave then you die. I'm coming to get you, just hold on." Anakin said. Bethany cursed again "I'm making it a command from a jedi master if I have to. Get off the planet _now_!" The comm remained silent, apart from some murmering in the background before it suddenly went quiet indicating the connection had been cut.

Bethany assumed Anakin had taken the hint and left. This meant she had to find a place to hide for a few hours and wait until he came back with the cruiser. Getting up again, Bethany tried to survey her surroundings, but after a few steps she fell back down again clutching her thigh. The pain radiating from her leg made it clear she could not just move. She decided she had to dress her wound before moving on, but with what? She had no medical supplies on her and looking at the wound it was not pretty. The laserbullet had cauterized most of the wound and it didn't bleed. But it was a deep flesh wound and it probarly damaged her muscles. Anakin had been right, she was in trouble if she couldn't move. Once he and the others were in hyperspace the inhabitants would sweep the area to see if the escapees had left any suprises. And what a suprise she would be, a wounded jedi master to kill or deliver to their employers for force knows what.

But what could she do, her adrenaline levels were dropping from being out of combat, making the wound hurt even more. She could never crawl through this terrain to get to safety, and an entire army would soon be looking for her. Her contemplating was interrupted by the sounds of laser cannons being fired above her and the loud noise of Engines running. Had they scanned the area for lifeforms and found her already? She thought with horror.

But it was no droid or enemy ship that dropped through the trees, but her own corvette. The boarding ramp was lowered and standing on it was Anakin, holding on to the hydraulic pistons which controlled the ramp. Bethany could not believe the foolishness of the male jedi as she saw him jump down with the force and get to her.

"What in name of the sith hells are you doing here!" "Rescuing you ofcourse, can you stand?" he replied matter of factly. He spotted the wound and added "I guess not."

He bend down on one knee and picked her up, Bethany didn't even have time to protest before he leaped up, with her in his arms, back on to the boarding ramp. "Ashoka!" he yelled "We're on, get us out of here!"

In response the ramp started closing and the ship started gaining alltitude. But the pursuing army had spotted them and several vulture droids moved onto them to stop them. Anakin dropped Bethany near the door and dashed into the cockpit.

Captain Rex walked up to her "Are you all right general?" he inquired. Bethany however was not in the mood to talk about her health. "What are you morons thinking! I ordered you to get away from the planet before the army caught us."

"General Skywalker belayed that order, and to us he is of the same rank as you ma'am. He said he'll deal with the consequences."

"Well I hope he knows how to deal with this! Were all stuck here now with an army on our tails, there is no way were getting away." Bethany raged.

"I advise to leave that to General Skywalker ma'am. For now lets get that wound dressed." The captain said. Bethany let out an angry sigh "Fine, might aswell look presentable when they shoot us down of capture us. Help me stand please, this wound is killing me."

00000

In Bethany's eyes it was a miracle that they actually made it out alive, albeit a few scorch marks on her ship. Anakin truly was a gifted pilot as he had gotten the ship trough the entire army and into hyperspace towards the cruiser near Togoria in one piece. She had no idea how he did it though. Bethany herself was a seasoned starpilot, having fought in many spacebattles against the Empire. But the odds of escaping Charros IV had been quite against them in her opinion. Yet he pulled it off.

She was now in her own medbay, with bactapatches on her legwound. Still not any less pissed off at her fellow jedi. He had taken an incredible risk coming after her. Nearly jeopardizing the mission. It was well worth a factory if they had captured or killed a jedi master, a knight and his padawan and a company of the best clones in the republic army.

Deep inside she was a little touched though. He reminded her of Kira. That particular jedi had probarly blown up a star without a moments thought if it meant she could have saved her sister in all but blood. It reminded her of herself. She always put others before herself, infact that is what she did when she told Anakin to get away. But their mission had been with more than just the two of them. A padawan and some clones, who were much less gifted than her and Anakin could have been dragged down with them.

Bethany broke out of her musings as Anakin strolled into the medbay. Bethany frowned at the sight of him. "It seems the roles are reversed now, master Cross. You're the one sulking now. Can't stand the fact I had to bail you out of there?" He said with a smile.

"Not sulking, Skywalker," Bethany said using the same formality the male jedi had shown just now. "Only contemplating, on how to get you kicked out of the order for disobeying my order."

"Kick me out? Is that how you thank your savior?"

Bethany sighed. "Why did you do that? Had we not been so lucky and escaped we would have all been dead or worse, in the hands of the enemy. You risked the mission for me."

"There is no such thing as luck, Bethany." Anakin said. "I knew what I was doing."

"So did I when I attempted to get out of the factory, yet I got shot and ended up in the situation where I needed rescuing." Bethany countered.

Silence reigned for a moment and Bethany continued "It's not that I'm ungrateful for you coming after me, but the risk was too great. You could have put Ashoka and the clones in a very bad situation had you failed."

"Should I have just left you there to die? And don't deny it, with that wound you wouldn't have survived until we had come back for you." Anakin said. "Its not the jedi way. We protect eachother."

"You are a great Jedi Anakin, but sometimes you can't rescue everyone, And I'd rather it be someone like me than a youngling like Ashoka who has to be sacrificed."

"But I rescued everyone, I say that makes it irrelevant." Anakin said.

"It does not Anakin. Sooner or later you will find yourself in a position where you will have to make a choice on who to save. You are not all-powerful." and neither am I Bethany silently added.

Seeing Anakins dejected look Bethany added one more thing. "I guess it worked this time though. So thank you for saving me." Anakin gave a lopsided grin and said "No problem Bethany."

00000

Whew, this was my first time writing an action packed chapter like this. I once again had to stop myself writing to not get above 5k words, but I hope you guys like it. Coming up is a new mission for Bethany, where she goes back to Tython, so stay tuned! And if you can, please leave a review, they help alot.

Loretwister out.


	6. Home sweet home

Hey guys. It has been a long time since my last update and I'm really sorry about that. Blame lack of inspiration and vacation with no computer close by for the delay. But I'm back in full swing and ready to entertain you guys once more.

Enjoy.

00000

In the blink of an eye three months had passed. After the success of the mission on Charros IV the Seperatists had severely slowed their advances into Republic territory and the Senate grudgingly had to eat their own words and acknowledge the skill of newly appointed General Cross. Bethany was even given her own clone division, the 777th division under command of clone captain Drake. Together with her division she had been deployed in the outer-rim sieges for most of the three months, leading campains at the southern Republic defence lines.

Bethany fell back into her old routine as commander with ease and her clones readily fell in line beside her. Her division was made up of Shinies and a handfull of veterans who were the only survivors of their own divisions. Not the easiest group of soldiers to work with, but having spend years in the company of Sergeant Rusk had rubbed off on Bethany and within the first few missions she had earned the respect and loyalty of her men. Bethany had a feeling the Senate had given her this particular division to make sure she'd fail in her job as General and she took great pleasure in proving those damned politicians just how wrong they were.

Right now Bethany was back on Coruscant for a long overdue period of rest. She had left Captain Drake in charge of getting the men settled in the barracks and was currently alone traveling to the Jedi temple to brief the Council on her last mission. It was not long before the Coruscanti skyline broke open and the massive body of the Jedi temple came in sight.

Minutes later she was standing infront of the council inside the council chambers. Only five of the twelve masters were physically in the room, as the rest was deployed in the war.

"Greetings master Cross, succesful your mission was?" Master Yoda spoke first. Bethany nodded. "We lost a great deal of men, but the planet was liberated of Seperatist presence, for now."

"For now?" master Windu inquired and Bethany nodded again. "I fear the current amount of troops will not be able to hold the system should the Seperatists launch a new campain. We will have to deploy atleast one new division to sufficiently guard the system."

"We will relay this information to the Chancellor and see what we can do, for now we congratulate you on a job well done." Windu said. Bethany bowed in gratitude.

"A new mission, we have for you master Cross." Yoda said.

Bethany raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that I was allowed a period of rest now. I do not mind being redeployed, but why have me travel all the way back to Coruscant just to tell me to go back again?"

"Not a mission concerning the war this is," Yoda said. "alot you have spoken of the planet Tython, and the old Jedi temple there."

"Since the war seems to have reached a moment of regrouping and rest, the council figured that we should use this time wisely and investigate this system. Many things could be learned from going back to our roots." Master Ki-adi Mundi said.

"You wish for me to lead an expedition to Tython?" Bethany asked. "Correct you are," Yoda answered "go to Tython myself, I will. Along with you and master Kenobi. Visit this place of peace and wisdom, we will."

Bethany could not stop a smile forming on her face. She had been thinking of going back to her old home for a while now but the war did not allow it. "It would be an honor to show you Tython. When do we leave?"

Obi-wan responded "We are hoping as soon as possible. But there are no known hyperspace lanes to the planet. The archive droids are currently plotting the course and then we can go."

"That will not be necessay. My Corvette has those lanes stored in the nav-computer. We can leave as early as tommorow morning granted my ship is serviced and supplied in time."

"Good news this is," Yoda said "put effort in readying your ship, we will. Leave tommorow, we shall." All masters nodded and were ready to end the meeting but Bethany made no move to leave. "Is there a problem master Cross?" Windu asked.

"There is one matter I need to discuss concerning this mission. I must ask to keep this expedition an internal Jedi matter." She said.

"Why would you ask this of us master Cross?" Kit Fisto asked.

Bethany spoke "I have no clue about the state of the temple or the planet after so many years. We cannot have beings other than Jedi get to the planet, not until we can re-establish our presence there sufficiently."

"Why is that?" Obi-wan asked.

"The Jedi have had problems with settlers before. Not to mention that if the Republic learns of Tython, there is a chance that individuals like Count Dooku or our anonimous Sith lord learn of it aswell. The treasures on the planet are too great to leave for grasps."

"What kind of treasures do you speak of? " Master Fisto asked.

"Apart from holocrons and information dating back to both the Old Republic and the founding of the order 30 thousand years ago, Tython has a series of cave systems where lightsaber crystals can be found. Not as large as on Illum, but still alot."

The masters seemed intrigued by this. "Lightsaber crystals are very hard to get these days. Having a new source of crystals would aid the Jedi a great deal. Especially so close by if the Jedi can move back into that temple." Windu said.

"Yes, and many a bounty hunter of fortune seeker would try and get them to sell to the highest bidder if news of this reaches the public." Bethany said. "Also, Tython functioned as a refuge when the battle of Coruscant destroyed the jedi temple. This might be an option again should The Clone Wars turn for the worst. But it is key we keep the information to ourselfs."

"Do you think that will be necessary?" Master Luminara said. "This war has not turned into our defeat yet."

"I was but a youngling when the temple on Coruscant fell master Luminara. The jedi were as much confident in their position against the Empire as you demonstrate now. It does not hurt to prepare for the worst. But it means that Tython must remain a secret to the public."

"Do like master Cross says, we should. Keep this an internal matter we will." Yoda said ending the discussion. All masters agreed with the grandmaster. "We shall leave at 0900 next morning. For now this meeting is adjourned."

00000

The next morning Bethany, Obi-wan and Yoda met at the Jedi hangars and boarded the Minerva. It only took a few minutes to get the ship out of the Coruscanti atmosphere and into hyperspace to Tython. It was a three hour trip from Coruscant to Tython. A trip Bethany had made many a time during her active service. The flight went about in silence with Obi-wan keeping an eye on the navigator.

"Nav-computer says we are in the final stretch and that we will reach Tython in 20 minutes." Obi-wan said leaning back in the co-pilot seat. Bethany did not reply and instead smiled in contentment, staring at the passing stars.

"Glad you are, to go back to Tython master Cross?" Yoda said from his hoverchair behind the pilots.

"Tython has been my home since I became a padawan master Yoda. I was knighted there and sat on the council in that very temple. The place holds many memories, both good and bad. I have been looking forward to this visit."

"Holding on the past, dangerous it can be." The grandmaster replied.

"That depends on what part of your past, in my opinion." Bethany replied. "The good memories can grant you strenght and wisdom. And bad memories can be used to learn from and strive for better."

"But the bad memories can have a negative effect on you aswell." Obi-wan mentioned.

"It is all part of being able to distinguish the good from the bad and dealing with them accordingly. That goes not just for our memories but also for our emotions."

"The code teaches us to let go of our emotions, you say we should not?" Obi-wan asked intrigued.

"There are no emotions there is peace. I know the lines," Bethany said "but I have learned that no being can be without emotion. Infact, feeling them is what defines us as alive. Feeling them is not wrong, acting on them is. I was taught that a wise Jedi can handle and master his emotions to obtain peace within himself. That does not necessarily mean we should be without emotion. If we can hold onto the good in our lifes and deal with the bad, we become greater Jedi."

"Interesting," Yoda said "a fundamentally different take on the code, this is. But not flawed as far as I can see. Love to discuss this more with you, I would."

"I alway discussed Jedi philosophy with my old padawan when on these trips. But it will have to wait for the return journey I'm afraid. We are approaching Tython now." Bethany said.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace a few moments later and Bethany took control of the ship, putting in the very familiar landing vector. She then tried to comm the planet and reach the automated flight control in the temple, but only static came back over the radio.

"I guess after 3.5 thousand years the planets systems are not online anymore." Obi-wan said.

"It was a long shot, but this means we can't land in the temple, since the hangar is closed. We'll have to make a detour and land at the open landing pads outside the temple." Bethany said adjusting the ship's course to the new landing zone. It took only a moment to reach the landing pad. It was the same pad Bethany had used when she first landed on Tython all those years ago and the three masters left the ship and walked into the hangar building.

"Strong, the force is. Much stronger than anticipated." Yoda said as they walked out onto the planet's surface. "Feel it in the air and in the water, I can."

"Tython is extremely infused with the force, more so than any place in the galaxy that I know of." Bethany responded.

"It doesn't look very inviting though." Obi-wan said looking around.

The planet looked dead and harsh. Withered trees and brown grass spread as far as the eye could see. "Give it a moment master Kenobi, and you'll be witness of the true strenght of Tython." Bethany said.

As the Jedi walked on they could feel the force starting to swirl around them, creating a light breeze. The flora around them started to stir. Color came back to the grass and plants started to bloom. It was like looking at a sped up holovideo of a garden growing over spring. "What is going on here?" Obi-wan exclaimed.

"Congratulations masters, you are true beings of the lightside." Bethany said cryptic "Explain this, can you master Cross?" Yoda asked just as astounded.

"Tython is prone to the balance between the lightside and the darkside. Because it is so infused with the force, it represents the balance it currently experiences. What little I found about Tython in the archives showed that the Sith invaded the planet near the end of the second great war. The darkside is very much present on the planet and is represented by the planet itself. Because we are jedi and part of the lightside, our presence is influencing the force on the planet, tipping the balance back to the light." Bethany explained.

"So if we would stay here long enough, the entire planet would flower again?" Obi-wan asked

"Eventually, but we'd need many more Jedi to do that. Also if the shift is too fast, the planet reacts too fast. That breeze were feeling could quickly become a deadly storm." Bethany answered.

"A name, does this place have?" Yoda asked looking around.

Bethany explained what they were currently seeing. "These are the Padawan training grounds. This is were the younglings and the padawans used to practise their lightsaber techniques, or meditate with their teachers. Those gifted in healing would also be trained here. Healing and growing the flora around the area. That building to the right was the youngling barracks, where those who did not yet have a master stayed. The building on the other side of the temple grounds holds the Knights quarters, were all jedi except the masters had a room."

They moved on for some time, observing and feeling the enviroment of Tython. They walked up a road that led up into the hills until they rounded a corner and found the main temple building.

"This is the main temple. This is where the masters stayed. It housed the Council chamber, the Archives and the hangars for the master's ships. It also has several classrooms and meditation rooms." Bethany pointed to the sides of the road leading to the temple steps. "On the outside here you find the droid trainers, where practise droids could be deployed."

"Was the temple selfproficient?" Obi-wan asked.

"Yes. Over that mountain over there massive fields for crops and livestock were present. The water is also clean to drink. So except for goods like clothing and certain materials for maintenance this place can function completely on its own and house atleast a few thousand jedi." Bethany said proudly.

They walked up the large stairs that lead to into the Jedi temple. But were stopped by the main doors being closed. They were large double doors, carved with a picture of two Jedi, lightsaber ignited as if they were standing guard. "I suppose we should knock?" Obi-wan joked.

"We should indeed Master Kenobi." Bethany said with a smile. "Please place your hand on the door, you aswell master Yoda. The door is made of materials found here on Tython. As such it reacts to the balance between light and dark as much as the rest of the planet. Only a Jedi can gain entrance to the temple, unless you force your way in." Yoda and Obi-wan nodded and the three jedi placed their palms against the door. They heared a loud click of a lock unlocking and found they could push the door inwards.

Inside they were greeted with the lost glory of the Jedi. It was a large circular room with two ramps wrapping about the side to the second level. In the middle was a large statue of a jedi. Light filtered in through the skylights in the domed roof.

"We might want to get some power running." Obi-wan said.

"If the generators still work that is." Bethany responded. "I'll go see if it does." She made her way into the left hallway that connected to the main hall and left the two other masters alone for a few minutes.

Obi-wan and Yoda walked around the room for a while, looking at the statues and tapestries that graced the walls. Every piece of art had a plaque beneath it explaining what the piece represented. Obi-wan was observing a larger statue near the right side of the room, having trouble seeing it cleary. The lights suddenly came on, basking the entire room in soft light from the wall lamps. The room became much clearer at that point and Obi-wan recognised the statue he had been looking at.

"Well, seems that Jedi engineering indeed last for ages. The generators powered up without a hitch." He heard Bethany say as she walked back into the main room.

"Master Cross, does this look familiar to you?" Obi-wan said pointing at the statue. Bethany and Yoda joined him curious about his finding. All Bethany could say once she saw it was "Oh.."

Infront of the three jedi stood a statue of Bethany herself, her arms folded infront of her, standing every bit the confident Jedi she was, her stone gaze looking onwards into the room.

The plaque on the pedestal read:

Jedi Master Bethany Cross, "The Hero of Tython"

10 BTC – 14 ATC

"Paragon of the Light, who led our armies against the coming darkness."

"Well it seems you Finally have proof of my heritage." Bethany said smiling at her stone counterpart.

Before Yoda and Obi-wan could respond a new voice joined them from next to Bethany. "I still stand by my opinion that they got the nose wrong."

The three Jedi turned to the source of the voice. Before their eyes a person formed out of pure force. The person was male with plenty of grey in his short cut hair and an impressive set of wrinkles. He shone blue and looked transparant, as if a ghost.

Bethany recovered first, this not being the first time the man appeared to her. "You'd think after 3.5 thousand years, you'd stop haunting me master Din."

The force ghost laughed. "Someone has to keep you out of trouble, my old Padawan."

"A little context here please?" Obi-wan said weakly, staring at the ghost.

"Heard of this phenomenon I have." Yoda said less phased than Obi-wan. "A strong Jedi this was, to have retained a consciousness after becoming one with the force. But lost, this skill has been to us."

Bethany and master Din nodded at Yoda as they turned to the two Jedi. "Allow me to introduce my old master, master Orgus Din, who even in death can't stop being my mentor." Bethany said.

"Greetings master Yoda, master Kenobi." the Jedi ghost said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Know our names, you do Master Din?" Yoda asked warily.

"Many who knew you joined the force. I share the force with some of these, and they have told me about you. I particularly enjoy the presence of master Qui-gon Jinn."

Obi-wan looked shocked "You know my old master?" Orgus nodded and smiled. "We have in common that we both trained very stubborn padawan, and shared some stories."

"Knowing this guy, he probarly hosts a special force dinner every month for all the Jedi no longer with us. He likes to be social." Bethany said grinning. Orgus glanced back to his old padawan "3.5 thousand years old and still a disrespectfull brat." He said. "Shut up you fossil." Bethany grumped but with a smile on her face.

"Under the impression I was, that only through meditation, commune with those in the force we could." Yoda inquired.

"You are correct. But with Tython so heavily infused with the force, and the Brat and I having a special bond, I was able to appear before all of you."

"A purpose to this visit, there is then?" Yoda asked

"It was partly to visit my old padawan, but I also come with a warning. The dark side is creeping onto the galaxy. It gains strenght every passing day this war continues. And not just from the Sith. This war is breeding pain and hatred between the species of the galaxy, further dividing us. The jedi must be both vigilant and flexible to withstand the coming storms.

"Can you explain abit more?" Obi-wan asked.

"The time for tradition has passed. Too long have the Jedi been stagnant in the wake of peace. Evolution and change is needed to withstand the darkside. Flexible you must be in your views and decisions. But carefull not to forget what the past has proven."

"Once again you sound like an old hermit master." Bethany complained. Orgus retorted. "It is not my fault you do not posses the wisdom to interpretate my words. I hope the wiser among us like master Kenobi or Yoda can."

Bethany glared at the ghost of Orgus Din but he did not seemed bothered by it. "I do not think, I act. A much more efficient way of _being_ a jedi." She said. "I know young one, it is the reason I took you as a padawan." Orgus smiled.

"Thank you master Din. Your words of wisdom, share them with the other Jedi we will." Yoda said bowing to Orgus.

"I hope you find the wisdom and strenght you need in my words. For now I have spend my energies being here. My time is up." Orgus said and he turned to Bethany. "Once again you stand at the edge of a revolution. Your actions aswell as the actions from those around you will determine the future of the galaxy. But I know you will do the right thing, as you have always done."

Bethany beamed uncharacteristically "Thank you master Orgus."

Orgus smiled again "And if I may suggest, you should visit your old chambers. A mutual friend waits for you. For now, Goodbye and may the force be with you." And with that the force ghost of the old master disappeared.

"Enlightening, this was," Yoda spoke after a moment of silence "much to discuss with the council, we have."

"I agree. We should make haste with the expedition and return to Coruscant." Obi-wan said. "What other places are of interest master Cross?"

Bethany pondered for a moment. "The archives should hold most of the information we need. I apparently should visit my old room and I think that other than that, the council chamber should be worth a look. I say we leave the old temple and the lightsaber crystal caves for when we visit with more manpower."

"The old temple? I thought this was the old temple." Obi-wan wondered.

"Well relative to this temple." Bethany admitted. "The 'old' temple lies to the west, and is the original temple. It is where the order was founded. But even in my time it was dangerous to visit. The ancient Jedi have guarded the place a little bit too well. Even several masters together were not able to get to the most secure parts of the temple. Which is why the Jedi build this 'new' temple here. That place holds many more secrets than this temple."

Obi-wan offered a plan. "I say we split up. I will visit the archives and copy what information I can. Master Yoda can visit the council chamber and master Cross can go to her old chambers."

"Agree to this plan, I do. Meditate in the old council chamber, I will. To unravel more mysteries there, I hope. Meet here again in one hour, we will." Yoda added.

Bethany nodded and quickly showed the other two masters where they could find their destinations. Then she made towards her old room.

00000

The walk to her chambers did not take long. Bethany passed several rooms which held many memories. Rooms where she had taught younglings, where she had meditated or trained. Finally she reached her own door. With a swipe of force the door slid open and Bethany stepped inside.

The room was pretty much as she left it. Bethany wondered for a moment why the Jedi had left her room untouched. Then she noticed some changes. She saw some items in the room that had not been hers for sure, but she recongised from who they were. Kira had taken her room at one point. Bethany smiled at the thought of her old padawan living here instead of her. She must have become a master herself.

Bethany then realised she didn't know what had happened to her sister in all but blood after Bethany had disappeared. She made a mental point to check the archives on that. Before she could take a single step further a series of excited beeps were heard from a corner. Bethany twirled and drew her sabers in alarm, but in the shadows was no enemy. Instead a familiar hunk of metal about half her lenght rolled out of the corner and towards her beeping more and more.

"Tee-seven?!" Bethany exclaimed. The astromech droid, known as T7-01, squealed in response as he reached her and rolled up against her leg, as if giving her a hug. Bethany laughed and kneeled, placing a hand on his slanted dome. "Hey Tee-seven," she said softly "it has been far too long has it not?"

The droid responded. "Jedi = back, T7 + jedi = together again. T7 = worried, Jedi = gone long time."

"I know my friend." Bethany said no longer able to keep her emotions in check. Tears started to roll over her cheeks. She hugged her droid. "I'm sorry Tee-seven, for disappearing all those years ago. Leaving you, leaving Kira, leaving the others when you needed me most."

"Jedi = sad, T7 forgive. T7 + Jedi = team again. T7 = happy." The droid said after a moment.

Bethany smiled and wiped her tears "Thank you Tee-seven. Look at me, some master I am, weeping like a little girl."

"T7 understand, T7 = sad long time, T7 = glad, Jedi = back. T7 + Jedi save galaxy again?"

"Ofcourse my friend, it's what we do." Bethany said with a watery smile and got back up. She walked to the bed and sat on the edge. "My own life for the past 3 millenia has been pretty dull. Please tell me, what have you and the others been up to?"

The next hour she and T7 spend recapping what had happened to her friends when she was gone. T7 had spend most of the time he was activated with Kira. That was until she died in the war. From then he stayed in the room, making sure no Jedi changed a thing in the room, convinced by Kira that Bethany would return some day.

Doc had left a few months after Bethany had disappeared, starting clinics and medical outposts on the frontlines again. T7 didn't know much else about him, or where he ended up in life.

Her protocol droid C2-N2 had been dismantled by Kira after a year. T7 snickered at that, telling him Kira had gotten so fed up with C2 that she cut him into pieces and threw those out of the airlock of her ship. Bethany laughed at that, picturing her old friend's very short patience running out and getting rid of the slightly annoying droid.

Lastly the topic came on Kira herself. Kira had continued being a great jedi, eventually taking a padawan and later becoming a master, before she fell during the war. She was killed by Lord Scourge of all people. T7 said he had some recordings to show Bethany and so the jedi master had asked him to roll them.

00000

The recording showed the council chamber. It featured an angry Kira infront of the Jedi council

"What do you mean, we stop the search for master Cross?!"

"You know what we mean knight Carsen." Satele Shan said. "It has been a year since she disappeared, we can only conclude she died."

"Master Cross is not dead! I can feel it!" Kira said heated.

"Please Kira," master Kiwiiks said "I understand your grief. Master Cross was a great Jedi and a close friend. But we must face reality."

"I am telling you the reality. She is still alive out there, and needs our help."

"Apart from your feeling there have been no signs towards that, knight Carsen, and with the war raging through the galaxy we can't put any more effort in a fruitless search. We must attend to our duty now" Master Kaedan said.

Kira looked like she was going to explode. "Duty?! Master Cross has risked everything for this galaxy. She accomplished more than _any_ of you. She did everything in her power to save the Jedi, to save me, to save the galaxy. And this is how we repay her? By giving up on her?!"

"Knight Carsen! Remember your place!" grandmaster Satele said. "We understand your anger. But we must face the fact that master Cross is MIA and very possibly KIA. We must move on. She will not be forgotten. if we ever find a lead it will be the highest priority to follow it. But for now, we have a war to fight. To stop doing our duty in favor of finding her would be the most disrespectful thing towards her memory. I am sure she would agree with this."

Kira snarled, tears visible in her eyes and she walked away. The recording ended

00000

Bethany had a pained look on her face. She had seen so much grief and anger in her sister. And she remained silent for a long time. T7 went on saying that she eventually made peace and continued Bethany's work in saving the galaxy, right up until she died. But Bethany knew she needed a few meditation sessions to get rid of the guilt she felt right now.

Her commlink beeped, the voice of Obi-wan came trough it. "Master Cross, me and master Yoda have met up again in the main hall. Are you on your way?"

"I am coming back now Kenobi. I'll be there in a few minutes." she said meekly. "Is everything ok?" the master asked concerned. "I found the old friend master Orgus spoke about, our reunion has been.. eventfull." Bethany did not want to indulge further and shut her commlink.

"Let's go tee-seven, I have to introduce you to some new friends."

00000

Well, that's 5.108 words, I broke the 5k barrier but I couldn't really cut out anymore. I have several scene's I still want to write about Tython and Bethany's past. But I'll throw them in further down the story. I once again bent (or invented) some facts about Tython, but hey it's AU, sue me. Also +100 internets to anyone who knows where the quote on the plaque of Bethany's statue comes from.

I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you did, they really help.

Loretwister out.


	7. Go Go Kamino!

Hey guys and welcome back for another chapter! This chapter is an adaptation from an episode of the clone wars animated series. Its the episode 'ARC-trooper' from season 3.

Enjoy

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Bethany walked back into the main hall of the old jedi temple, T7 rolling up behind her. She spotted Obi-wan and Yoda standing near the entrance. Increasing her step she walked up to the two masters.

"I see you made it back master Cross. Who is your friend?" Obi-wan said looking past Bethany to T7.

"This is the old friend master Orgus spoke about. He is my old astromech droid, T7-01." T7 bleeped and twirled his slanted dome in response.

"I see, well I have gathered enough data to have master Jocasta Nu faint in joy at the new additions to the archives. I say we go back to Coruscant and report back to the council." Obi-wan said.

"Done I am aswell," Yoda said "refreshing it was to meditate in this place, feel a hundred years younger, I do." the grandmaster chuckled. Obi-wan and Bethany laughed at that comment and the jedi plus droid made their way back to Bethany's ship.

"This expedition has been very productive." Obi-wan said while they were walking through the padawan grounds again.

"I am glad it was," Bethany responded with a smile "I hope we can soon send a larger group of Jedi to fully explore and rehabitate this planet."

"Assure you of that, I can," Yoda spoke "restore this planet to its former glory, the Jedi will. Too much too lose, there is." Obi-wan nodded in response.

"For now return home, we shall." Yoda finished. T7 bleeped, seemingly confused. Bethany turned to him. "I know Tython is _our_ home Tee-seven. But for now we go to the new republic Jedi's home."

"You can understand your droid?" Obi-wan asked.

"Yes I can, Tee-seven and I have been partners for years, why?" Bethany asked suprised.

"Sounds like Anakin and Artoo.." Obi-wan said sighing

T7 grunted and Bethany smiled in understanding then spoke to T7 "Yes Tee-seven, I think you'll like the astromech of a fellow Jedi. Artoo has your kind of humor."

"Speaking to a droid as if a sentient, slightly worrying it is." Master Yoda said.

"Tee-seven is as close a sentient as any organic being." Bethany responded. "Most A.I. algorithms are complex enough to develop a personality given the droid has enough memory data to base it upon." T7 whirled and beeped proudly.

"Yup, just like Anakin and Artoo." Obi-wan muttered.

00000

Hours later the three masters were back in the council chamber. The rest of the council present to listen to their report. Obi-wan and Yoda did most of the talking until the discussion fell on the appearing of the old master Orgus Din.

"He appeared before you as a force spirit?" Ki-Adi Mundi spoke astounded. "I have never heared of a Jedi being able to do this."

"Strong in the force, master Din was." Yoda said. "Trained master Cross he had afterall. Know of this phenomenon I do, but not clear on how to reproduce it, I am. A very old and lost technique, it is."

"Master Din mentioned that our own master Qui-gon Jinn has achieved the same after his dead on Naboo." Obi-wan said. "Apparently they sometimes share life experiences with eachother. Though I have never been visited by Master Jinn before."

Bethany added into the conversation. "I don't think this technique is a luxury to Jedi. It takes one who is in the force a large amount of power to appear to us in the real world. The instances that Master Orgus visited me were very few, and only if I needed to know something of great importance. Or when I needed his guidance the most."

Bethany paused for a moment. "Master Orgus was a great master to me. Even in death he continued to be my mentor. To know that even after 3.5 thousand years he still watches over me is heart warming. He was, no, still is a great Jedi." Nods of approval came from several masters in the room.

"A message and a warning, he gave us three. Share it with the council we wish to." Yoda said looking at Obi-wan to recite the words of the old master.

Obi-wan said the words Orgus Din had spoken and the room once again went silent. Yoda was the first to break it after a few minutes. "Meditated on Tython I have, to find the correct interpretation of these words. Not been succesful, I have been on my own. But words to remember for all of us, I think they are."

The masters agreed with Yoda, and the report went on about the rest of the expedition. Obi-wan spend almost an hour talking about the archives and what he found written in them. He also showed several holos of old council meetings and certain recordings that were of great importance to the old Republic Jedi. Bethany narrated where she could, giving more information where context was missing.

After that she spend a short time talking about T7, requesting that she could keep the droid as her astromech. There were no objections to this, and with that one of the most enlightening meetings in the current order was near its end.

"I feel we have gained alot from this visit to Tython by our three masters." Windu said.

"Indeed we have." Yoda continued. "Plan for more expeditions to Tython, we should. Much more to learn from our ancestors, there is. For now, go forth with the knowledge we obtained, we should. Still raging trough our galaxy, The Clone Wars are."

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It was a month later that Bethany found herself going on a mission in the company of Obi-wan again, this time joined by Anakin. She had taken her republic cruiser and the 777th division with the orders to join the two jedi and prepare for an impending attack on the planet Kamino.

A day before Anakin and Obi-wan had intercepted a transmission between general Grievous and the Sith assasin Ventress. The Seperatists were planning to attack the clone's home planet from the recently lost outpost on the Rishi moon.

Kamino was a vital system as it housed all of the clone production. Therefor the Senate deemed it necessary that three generals and their entire divisions should go and back up general Shaak Ti to stop the attack. Bethany and her clones lead by commander Drake were currently enroute to the cloner's planet.

"How does it feel going home again Drake?" Bethany asked her commander as they were standing on the bridge.

The commander turned towards his general. His ARC-trooper armor was dyed white and scarlet red which was Similar to Bethany's hair color. All in honor of his superior. His helmet lay on the war table infront of them, showing his typical clone haircut and the tattoo of a krayt dragon, which he got for his name, on the right side of his face.

The clone commander answered "I am not sure general. I guess I should be glad to see my old home again. But an impending attack on that very home is hardly reason to be overjoyed." Several clones on the bridge nodded to the words of their commander.

"I feel for you guys. I remember how it felt when my own home on the brink of destruction." Bethany said with a sad smile, staring outside the viewport.

"Ma'am, does that mean you think Kamino is done for?" one of the navigator clones asked unsure.

"That depends on how well we do our job," the jedi replied "but we should draw strenght from the thought. It's over our dead body that our home will fall to the enemy."

Drake straightened up. "Your absolutely right general. Lets get a move on men!" The clones on the bridge all replied with "Yessir!"

Bethany mused. Subtle or hidden motivation speeches were not easy to pull off. But when they did, they had twice the amount of effect.

It took them a few hours to reach Kamino. Bethany flew her cruiser past the blockade around the planet and landed it in Tipoca City.

"Greetings master Cross." master Shaak Ti said. She and the prime minister of Kamino, Lama Su, formed the welcome committee for the young master. "Welcome to Kamino general." the kaminoan said with a bow.

"Thank you for your welcome Prime Minister, although I feel the reason for my visit are not that great." Bethany said bowing aswell.

"Indeed. It appears that you come with the grave tide of an impending Seperatists attack. It is hard to imagine such an event given how well the planet is protected." Lama Su said gravely.

"Nonetheless, it is what I am here for, as unfortunate as it is." Bethany responded.

Shaak-Ti spoke up "I thank you for your assistance in this impending crisis. You arrived before master Kenobi and Skywalker. They should be here in a few hours."

Bethany decided to lighten the mood. "I guess I should hurry and get my troops unloaded so we are ready to roll out the red carpet." she said.

The other Jedi master smiled at the comment. "I shall return to command while you get your men ready master Cross. When your ship is unloaded please have it join the blockade in orbit."

Bethany bowed to the master and prime minister and turned to Drake. "You heard the general, lets get our men out."

00000

It took them longer than anticipated to get everything off the cruiser. It flew back into orbit just as the cruiser holding the other jedi generals descended towards the city.

Bethany and Drake stood in attendance, soon joined by Shaak Ti and Lama Su. The cruiser landed and the massive boarding ramp lowered revealing the 212st and 501st divisions marching down it. In the lead were Anakin and Obi-wan flanked by Cody and Rex.

Shaak Ti and Lama Su greeted the two jedi the same way they had greeted Bethany. The jedi herself smiled and nodded to the newly arrived generals in form of greeting. The clone commanders saluted to their superiors.

"With four generals present, even the Seperatists would not be foolish enough to attack, would they? " Lama Su asked as they started making their way to the command center.

"We should not underestimate Grievous and Ventress," Obi-wan said "if those two are teaming up, who knows what they come up with."

"Don't worry master, we're ready for just about everything." Anakin said.

"I'm worried about that little bit of everything we're not ready for." Obi-wan responded rubbing his beard.

"It is strange. The fleet defending the planet is too large for them to try and get Kamino occupated." Bethany pondered. "What _are_ they be after?"

"If they manage to destroy the facilities, like the production lines or the barracks, it will put back clone production by force knows how many months." Shaak Ti offered.

"It is also possible they are after the original DNA string for the clones," Lama Su said "that would stop the production all together."

"Then it is top priority we guard those positions." Anakin said.

"We must also consider the natives," Bethany added "Kaminoans are not warriors, correct?"

Lama Su nodded in response but added "Our people are not living here at the facility, they only work here. Unless they attack our other citys, they should be safe."

"For now, lets see if we can prepare a general defence plan." Shaak-ti said.

00000

The four generals had barely sat down in the command center before the alarms started blaring. The long range sensors picked up a Seperatist fleet dropping out of hyperspace and the Republic forces scrambled to the defence.

"I'm going up there and cooridinate the blockade." Anakin said. The other agreed and he ran out towards his fighter.

The entire Seperatists fleet had now dropped out of hyperspace and had formed a formation. The first lasers were fired and the battle above Kamino started.

Between the shouting of orders and general coordination of the battle by the clones manning the CIC terminals, the three remaining generals stood by the war table, watching as the Seperatists got destroyed, pondering about the seemingly foolish attack by Grievous.

"The fleet is much smaller than we thought." Shaak-Ti said.

"Too small, there is no victory to be gained here. Grievous is not stupid. They are up to something." Obi-wan commented rubbing his beard.

Suddenly the voice of Anakin came over communications. "The fleet is holding up, but due to the low orbit, there may be some debris coming down."

To illustrate the point, the holo displays showed various pieces of Seperatists ship dropping down on the planet, some a little bit to close for comfort.

"Grievous seems to favor losing his transports over committing his control centers to the fight." Shaak-Ti mentioned.

"Be cautious Anakin, this is too easy." Obi-wan said to his old padawan.

"Master, the fight is up here, not down there. I think Grievous has lost his touch." Anakin laughed over the comm.

More debris was falling and Obi-wan's eyes narrowed on the holo display. "No Anakin, something is up and I believe the debris is the key."

"What are they gonna do then? Crush us by landing debris on our heads?" Anakin mocked.

Bethany had been silent, listening to the conversation and keepin an eye on what the scanners showed, trying to decipher the Seperatist plan. "Landing?" she muttered. Suddenly and idea clicked. She straightened up and turned towards the clones. "Lock down the city, prepare the troops for a ground assault!"

"What's wrong master Cross?"master Shaak Ti said concerned.

"Bethany, don't tell me your getting paranoid too." Anakin said still listening over the comm.

"No Anakin. Grievous took a page out of our book. Remember the mission to Charros IV? How we landed on that planet?"

"Yes?" came the questioning answer from Anakin. "We fooled the planet's sensors by making it think our ship was.." It then clicked for the jedi knight aswell "...debris! The debris from the Seperatist's ships is carrying the ground assault troops!"

"Good grief." Obi-wan said before he turned to the commanders. "Have the clones form defence lines through the city and prepare for Separists assault crafts."

"I'm coming down to you guys." Anakin said.

"Who knows how many droids are holed up in those chunks. Anakin, stay up there. Take a few squads and make sure no more debris becomes reinforcement. Get into to low orbit and blast it all." Bethany responded

Obi-wan raised a point."The blockade is already at minimum orbit, flying below that is dangerous. Our ships can enter in and out of an atmosphere just fine, but they're not build for high altitude maneuvering and fighting."

"And don't you need me down there with the clones?" Anakin asked.

"I agree with master Cross. We will be fine down here Skywalker. If anyone can pull off that kind of flying, its you." Shaak Ti said

"Copy that masters, I'll make sure no more droids set foot on Kamino." Anakin said before he cut the commlink. The sensors read that several pilot squadrons started following Anakin's fighter into low orbit, shooting debris.

"We should go help the defences." Shaak Ti said.

"I'll go and guard the DNA vault, Obi-wan can take the vanguard with the clones, Grievous is bound to join the assault. Master Ti can stay here and defend command." Bethany offered.

"A sound plan, may the force be with you." Obi-wan said and he made his way outside the post.

00000

Bethany made her way to the DNA vault. When she reached it she saw that to their luck, no droids had made it this far. The droids were numerous and the defence lines were taking heavy fire. They were being pushed back, but holding.

Bethany suddenly got an idea. The jedi master accessed the vault and took out the DNA string for the clones. She then accessed another string and placed the DNA of the clones in that slot. Bethany took the other DNA container and clipped it to her belt. She then stepped back into the shadow of the vault and waited.

She only had to wait a few minutes before she sensed a fellow force sensitive coming up to the vault. The door slid open and a bald female with strange purple tattoos stepped into the vault room, two lightsabers were clipped onto her belt.

Bethany saw a confident smirk on the woman's face and felt the darkside swirl around her. A Sith then, Bethany concluded. The Sith woman accessed the vault and Bethany saw the woman's smirk turn into a snarl as the machine told her the DNA was not present.

Bethany stepped out of the shadow. "Looking for something, Sith?"

"Jedi.." The woman's voice was eerie. "I suggest you give me that DNA, and nobody gets hurt, badly." Followed by an evil smile.

Bethany layed a hand on the container on her belt. "But it complements my outfit so well." she said with a smirk.

"Then be prepared to die at the hands of Asajj Ventress, Jedi Scum." her enemy said, drawing her two red lightabers and lowering into a stance.

Bethany drew her own sabers, orange blades humming as she too stood ready to strike. Ventress looked suprised at the dual orange blades. Bethany smile widened "I little Sith like you can't possibly beat me at dualwielding. Turn around and walk away, this is my only warning."

Ventress snarled at the taunt and charged. Bethany however force leaped and met the Sith halfway. Four lightsabers clashed in the air, sputtering at the force they hit eachother.

Ventress disengaged first and took a step back to line up her lightsabers for an assault but Bethany jumped over the Sith and through the door into the hallway.

"If you want this DNA you better work for it." She said. Ventress snarled again and charged after the jedi.

Bethany admitted that Ventress was not without skill. The Sith was very agile, countering most of her advances and she was crafty with her own assaults. Bethany's robes and plasteel armor had a few burn marks from where they had taken a hit from a red saber. Part of the plan, the armor was made to take a lightsaber hit or two, but impressive nonetheless. However the fight was nothing compared to the legends the jedi had fought in the past. Bethany clearly outclassed her in terms of lightsaber mastery and could easily keep up.

Ventress also had a very obvious flaw. The Sith was easily aggravated. She was an Assasin, not a warrior and was trained to end a fight quickly. The fact that Bethany could keep up with her so easily pissed her off immensely. Bethany decided to capitalize on this and play keep away while taunting the Sith, waiting for the moment when Ventress, in her anger, would slip up.

Ventress kept up a strong assault, having Bethany fall back into defence. But the jedi master had half a city to keep her distance. Every assault was met with a dodge or block, followed by jumping or twisting out of range. Keeping pace with the advances that Ventress made as they made their way through the numerous hallway's of Tipoca City.

"Stop running and start fighting, you coward!" Ventress yelled angrily as she stepped back after yet another failed assault.

"Be wary of what you wish for." Bethany warned. The jedi suddenly went on the offensive, using her signature force leap to strike at Ventress in an instant. The Sith barely got her defence up to counter the attack. Bethany fell into her Juyo stance and delivered a series of powerful strikes, making sparks fly off the clashing lightsabers. Ventress tried to twist out of the assault and deliver a roundhouse blow.

The strike was blocked and before Ventress could ready her other lightsaber an orange blade swung out, the strike having been obscured by Bethany's own body. Ventress blocked in a hurry but the position of the blades left her defences open.

Bethany kicked the Sith in the stomach, a blow aided by the force and Ventress flew back into the wall. Ventress recovered as Bethany advance once again. The Sith decided to use the force and push Bethany back. she took the force push from Ventress and hit the opposite wall of the hallway.

Ventress dared to smirk at the jedi thinking she was gaining the upper hand but Bethany surprised her with a move the Sith had never seen before. Bethany actually flung her lightsaber at the Sith, using the force to control the blade and keep it spinning. Ventress blocked the flying saber, but lost sight of Bethany in the effort. Bethany took this opportunity to leap once again and strike with her remaining saber.

Ventress froze for a moment and did her best to avoid the deadly attack. This barely worked as Bethany's saber grazed the Sith's right arm, leaving a nasty cauterized cut on the limb. The flying saber was now back in Bethany's hand and both sabers were in position again. Ventress leaped away and clutched her arm.

Bethany paused. "You were the one asking me to fight back." she said with a mocking smile.

"Damn you Jedi! You'll pay for this!" the assasin responded in rage.

Bethany lowered her sabers."You won't. You have lost an arm Ventress, you cannot beat me. This is my final warning, surrender or die."

Ventress did not reply in words and instead raised her uninjured arm towards the jedi. Bethany felt the force lift her up and constrict around her throat. She cursed mentally for falling for the trap as her own hands went up to her throat by instinct.

Ventress laughed "You may be able to swing some fancy lighsabers, but I am a Sith! You stand no chance against my power!"

Bethany closed her eyes trying to calm down. Her body was screaming for oxygen but Bethany ignored the impulse and lowered her arms, gathering the force in them. She swung her hands out creating a force wave which hit Ventress.

The wave was by no means strong, Bethany was a duelist and not a force manipulator, but it broke the Sith's concentration and the force choking stopped. Bethany landed on the ground, kneeling and gasping for air.

Ventress used her one good hand to grab one of her lightsabers and charged at Bethany, blade posed to a deadly strike. At the last possible moment Bethany blocked with her own lightsabers. She rolled on her back and kicked out, using the Sith's own momentum from the strike to kick the Assasin over the jedi's head. Bethany leaped up and spun around.

Ventress was back on her legs aswell, holding out her one lightsaber while her other arm hung from her shoulder, too damaged to wield her second saber. Ventress was breathing heavily while Bethany had her own breath back under control from the force choke, and stood there without a sign of fatigue.

"Typical Sith, can't duel their way out so they cheat. Don't you people have a single shred of honor in you?" Bethany said.

Ventress smiled "You call it cheating, I call it clever use of mechanics."

Bethany locked eyes with Ventress in determination. "Well, your cheating won't work anymore. I gave you a chance to surrender but it seems you are not wise enough to know when you are beaten. Come then, we have a duel to finish."

The jedi did not waste time waiting for an answer as she charged Ventress with both sabers in a crossed-blade strike. Ventress threw up her one saber in defence, but was not strong enough to block the dual strike with one arm and she was forced to be pushed back.

From that moment on the roles had reversed. With Bethany on the offensive and Ventress doing her best to keep the Jedi at bay.

They moved trough several more hallways until they reached a door the outside, where they continued the duel onto a bridge that led to a platform.

This has been intentional as the platform was connected to another bridge, and on that bridge Bethany saw a droid like creature on six legs crawling towards them. The droid had two ignited lightsabers in his claws. From behind the droid Bethany saw Obi-wan running after it with his saber ignited aswell. The four lightsaber duelists met on the platform.

The droid spoke first in a rough metalic voice "Assasin, why are you injured? did you secure the DNA?"

"No Grievous, I was quite busy dealing with that orange bladed jedi over there. Fortunatly she has the DNA on her." The assasin said.

Grievous locked eyes with Bethany "Well then, I guess _I'll_ have to get it, and add those rare sabers to my collection aswell.

"Not if I can help it Grievous." Obi-wan said dropping into his Soresu stance

The two on two duel started. Grievous ignited his two additional lightsabers and charged into Bethany. Obi-wan blocked though and Bethany prepared to strike past Obi-wan's defence. But Ventress intervened and stopped the assault.

Obi-wan and Bethany fell into tandem, his defensive Soresu style being a great match for Bethany's agressive Juyo style. Obi-wan did most of the defending so Bethany could sacrifice her own in favor of a more powerful offense.

The General and the Assasin were not weaklings either though. The sheer strenght of the four saber blows was hard to overcome and even with one arm Ventress's strikes were quick and accurate. The jedi were pushing though and were slowly gaining the upperhand.

Unfortunatly At that point Obi-wan and Bethany slipped up, misinterpretating eachother's moves and getting in the way of eachother. The two Seperatists jumped onto the opening immediately.

Ventress delt a critical blow to Obi-wan, forcing him to to step back and seperate from Bethany. Grievous followed up with a strong lightsaber strike to Bethany, who was not ready to defend. While she blocked the lightsaber thrust, she could not avoid the powerful metal kick from Grievous's robot leg.

Grievous jumped after her and landed ontop of her. Holding her sabers down with two of his own while his third hand grabbed the DNA container on her belt. His fourth was raised to deal a killing blow.

Obi-wan saved Bethany at the last possible moment, force pushing Grievous off the jedi. But the DNA was lost. Ventress smirked but saw from afar that clones were starting to pour out of the city lead by master Ti.

She turned to the robot general and yelled "Grievous, we got what we came for! Lets not overextend our stay!"

Grievous got up and saw the advancing forces. "I guess I shall take your lightsabers another time orange jedi. But thank you for the clone DNA." He laughed.

He and Ventress ran away and jumped off the platform. Below the platform a Seperatist shuttle was floating, which was why Grievous and Ventress had run to this platform in the first place. The shuttle took off.

Bethany grabbed her commlink. "Anakin! Grievous and Ventress are escaping in a shuttle, intercept them!"

Anakin's voice came back over the comm. "On it!" But after a few minutes he spoke again. "We were out of position and couldn't intercept. The shuttle got away."

Shaak-Ti was now standing with the two other generals, flanked by Rex, Cody and Drake. Several other clones were keeping a respectful distance. Silence reigned on the platform.

"This is terrible news, with the DNA gone, this war is lost." The tortugan master said after a while.

Obi-wan looked grave and Anakin yelled over the commlink "Damn it! I told you you needed me down there!"

Bethany however smiled. "Don't look so down masters, We stopped the assault on Kamino. Besides I think Grievous and Ventress are in for quite a surprise."

Obi-wan raised an eyebrow "What do you mean? That was not the clones DNA?" "That was not the clones DNA," Bethany said with a very un jedi like smirk on her face "Ventress just thought it was."

Obi-wan allowed a smile on his face, and the entire group sighed in relief.

"Then whose DNA was it General?" Drake asked

00000

Ventress and Grievous walked into the room their master was meditating. Bandages could be seen on Ventress's arm and together with the droid general she kneeled before Darth Tyranus.

"You are wounded, my apprentice." Came the low and rich voice of Dooku.

"Courtesy of that new general of the republic, Jedi Cross." Ventress snarled.

"She was actually a match for you?" Dooku asked.

Ventress stayed silent for a moment. "I fought my hardest against her but she countered my every move like it was nothing. It felt.. as if she was just.. testing me. She is a much greater threat than we thought."

Dooku snarled, displeased by the news. "I will discuss this with my master. Have you secured the DNA?"

"Yes my master," Grievous said "I overpowered the orange jedi and took it from her." From his bowing position he grabbed the container and held it out to Dooku.

"Well done Grievous, it seems atleast one of my apprentices knows how to do his masters bidding." Dooku spoke. He walked over to a computer terminal to the side and inserted the container.

Dooku began "With this DNA in my possesion, the Republic will be powerless to stop me. We shall soon rule.." "WHAT?!" he yelled as he saw the holoscreen pop up and showing what DNA was in the tube.

Dooku turned around in fury "Insolent Fools! Idiots! How dare you show this to my face."

Ventress and Grievous looked shocked. "But master.." Ventress began.

"You have brought me ewok DNA!" Dooku seethed. "Half a fleet, and countless droids lost for.. for.. EWOK DNA!"

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Starwars episode VII, revenge of the Ewoks *snicker*

Anyway, that 5k barrier keeps taunting me. I was planning to put a T7 meets R2 scene in this chapter, but cut it in favor for more action. I'll put it in next chapter or the one after that. I can tell you for sure though that next time we'll delve into the wonderful world of the Senate. So stay tuned.

I hope you liked it, leave a review if you did. They help motivation alot.

Loretwister out


	8. Mandalorian troubles part 1

Hey guys and welcome to another chapter of Converging of Eras! This is part one of a two part mission of my own design, but it grabs back to certain events from The Clone Wars animated series.

Enjoy

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Chaos was all around her as the ten year old Bethany ran trough the halls of the jedi temple of Coruscant. The girl, officially barely old enough to hold a weapon, had liberated a lightsaber from one of the many fallen Jedi in the temple.

Bethany had no idea what was going on. One moment she was in mediation class, and the next she was hurried out of the room by a panicked knight, who said an army of Sith had broken through the defence grid and were assaulting the temple.

By the time Bethany had reached the point she was now she was all alone, separated from her group in all the chaos. She ducked behind a statue and took moment to take a deep breath. The force screamed around her, filled with the darkside and the death of so many defending Jedi. It nearly overwhelmed her and she was fighting tears and her own fear.

The young Jedi tapped into the force to erect mental barriers to keep all the force chaos out. It worked a little bit, but she could still feel the drone of the chaotic force bashing against her shields.

She moved on again through the hallway and around a corner, where she came face to face with two Sith. Fear shuddered through her as the two darkside users spotted her and walked up to her.

"Look Orth, one of them brats managed to get this far." The left one sneered.

Bethany overcame her fear a little bit and raised her stolen lightsaber in defence.

"Don't even try girl, you have the skill of a toddler. Just lay down the weapon and die." The other sith named Orth said as he pointed his red lightsaber to her.

Bethany stood defiant though, keeping herself in a stance. Albeit she could not stop a slight shake in her knees. "So be it then you brat." the first unnamed Sith said.

The Sith stepped up to Bethany and raised his lightsaber to strike. The blow came but Bethany quickly side-stepped and parried the attack. She then gripped the hilt tight and swung her lightsaber under the defence of the sith and through his torso.

The Sith screamed in anger and pain as he fell and died. Bethany grabbed the fallen Sith's red saber and stepped into an improvised dualwield stance.

"You'll pay for that you insect!" Orth seethed.

"Get out of my home, stupid Sith." Bethany said in a high, unintimidating voice.

The Sith attacked in anger, delivering fast and strong blows to the girl's defence. Bethany was not strong enough to block the attacks so she did her best to dodge and parry, using her small frame to her advantage.

One strike went through the hilt of Bethany's blue saber and it broke, leaving her with only one weapon. The Sith smirked and then used the force to knock Bethany into a wall, which the girl Jedi slumped down against. The darksider had a maniacal look on his face as he jumped onto her.

Fear now really overtook Bethany as she shut her eyes and raised her remaining saber in panic. She expected to feel the pain of a killing blow soon, but after a few seconds she noticed she wasn't feeling anything. She dared to open her eyes.

The Sith, in his overconfidence had payed no attention to Bethany's desperate defence and currently sat on his knees infront of the girl, red saber stabbed through his chest. His own lightsaber was stuck in the wall next to Bethany's shoulder.

Bethany squeaked in fear, withdrew her lightsaber and rolled away from the dead Sith's body as it fell down against the wall.

She sat there for a good minute, gasping for air and staring at the dead body's of her enemies. Tears ran over her face as the force continued to tell her about the deaths of fellow Jedi.

But the moment of peace didn't last long. Four more Sith charged into the hallway, one of them wearing a mask. They were in combat with a group of Jedi and Bethany watched as the Jedi were cut down and defeated. The group of Sith then spotted Bethany and their dead comrades.

"Dak! Orth!" One of the Sith yelled, recognizing their dead colleagues. "You little bitch, you'll pay for this!" his friend said as they charged towards the girl.

Bethany jumped up and used the force to pull the second red saber out of the wall and into her hand. By the time the two Sith reached her she was into stance and dodged the first assault by jumping back. The Sith continued their charge but Bethany slipped into both the Sith's defence and used her sabers to strike. The two Sith screamed as they dropped next to her, mortally wounded. Bethany regained her bearings and looked over to the remaining Sith.

The third Sith made to attack her but was stopped by an arm of the masked one. He slowly walked up to the girl, his yellow eyes piercing through the mask.

Bethany looked up into his face. She was breathing quickly and heavily from the fighting and the fear, as she trembled before the lord.

"You are very strong with the force young one, since you managed to kill four of my men Quite impressive." the masked Sith said.

Although scared, Bethany looked him into the eyes, sabers ready "I will not let you kill me."

"And brave aswell. Or is it stupid?" The masked Sith laughed. "I am lord Adraas, you would make a very good apprentice girl." (*1)

The other sith looked suprised at this statement "My lord! She killed our brethren, you can't mean.." But he was cut off by Adraas "I can do as I please, worm!"

"I won't join the Sith, you are evil." Bethany squeaked.

"Then I guess you are stupid after all." Adraas said as he raised his lightsaber.

The Sith lord engaged in combat with the young Jedi, clearly overpowering her. One blow knocked a saber out of her hand. Adraas smiled under his mask as he posed his next strike to kill. At the last possible moment Bethany tried to parry, changing the trajectory of the Sith's lightsaber from her neck to her head. The tip of the blade sliced her face from her left cheek to above her right eye. The lightsaber cauterized the wound immediately but Bethany fell on her back screaming in pain. She used her free hand to clutch her face.

Adraas stopped and stared at the girl, lying on the ground and clutching her wound, for a moment. "Such a waste of potential." he mused as he raised his saber once more.

Bethany could see through her fingers and the pain that the Sith was ready to kill her. But before he could strike down he flew backwards, forcepushed from behind her. She then felt a strong arm wrap around her stomach and pull her up. She looked back at the face of her saviour. A knight, named Orgus Din she believed. (*2) The Jedi pulled her away from the Sith who was recovering from the forcepush and said "Well fought youngling. Come, let get out of here." Bethany nodded weakly as the knight picked her up and made a run for it.

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Bethany shot up from her bed, startled by the dream. She raised a hand to her face, feeling the old scar on her face, which was tingling from the memory. It has been many years since she had dreamed about that awful day during the battle of Coruscant. She recalled what happened after her dream ended.

After she and knight Din had escaped the temple through the many secret passages, they had made it into the lower levels of Coruscant. There he treated her face as best as he could, wrapping field-bandages coated in colto around her head to heal the wound. It was in no way professional, which is why she still wore the scar to this day. They had laid low under the city until the blockade around Coruscant was lifted and they made their escape to Tython.

Years later the knight that rescued her from the Sith would become her master.

Once Bethany had calmed down she glanced at the clock on her wall and saw it was nearly morning. Deciding that going back to sleep would be fruitless, she got up and went into the 'fresher to get ready for the day.

After breakfast she was summoned to council. Bethany made her way up into the spire, straightened her robe and walked into the chamber.

Inside she was met with master Yoda, master Windu and master Mundi, who were the only ones present to brief her on her mission.

"Good morning master Cross." Yoda said bowing in form of greeting. Bethany returned the gesture "Good morning to you too masters." She said.

"We have a new mission for you." Windu said. "One that we hope your past experiences will help with."

"Guard a Senator, you will. Senator Organa of Alderaan is going on a trade mission for the Republic. Hoping to count on Jedi protection he is." Yoda spoke.

"With all due respect masters," Bethany responded "I don't see how I am more qualified to guard a senator than any other knight."

"We are asking you because of the destination of the senator." Windu said "He is going to Mandalore to discuss supply treaties with Duchess Satine. Due to the war, Mandalore has lost many of its suppliers and has recently had trouble with black market dealings to get goods to their population. Senator Organa is going to discuss new agreements for supplies to the planet. Since Mandalore is not part of the war, their credits would be a great benefit to the Republic and it will strenghten the bond between the neutral systems and the Republic."

"I have heard that Mandalore is no longer what it used to be and is now a peaceful society. My knowledge of Mandalorian culture won't be of much help." Bethany admitted.

Master Mundi spoke "Mandalore has also been having trouble with an extremist movement called the Deathwatch. They are descendants from the old warrior clans and strive to reclaim Mandalore's lost glory. An agreement of trade between Mandalore and the Republic will harm their cause and so we believe they are going to try and stop the negotiations. This is why we want you to protect our good senator. Deathwatch clings to their old ways and as such we are hoping you know how to counter them."

Bethany grimaced, remembering her dream from this morning. "The tricky part about the 'old' Mandalorian way is that there usually is no counter. But I know a thing or two about them so I will accompany the senator to Mandalore."

"Inform the Senate immediately, we will. Go now to senator Organa at his home to start the mission you should. May the force be with you." Yoda said. Bethany bowed to the masters and made her way out of the temple.

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Landing at 500 republica was always a problem. Some Senators had entire collections of speeders and Bethany had to circle a few times to find a spot to land hers. It miffed the Jedi that these politicians had no problem spending their Republic paid salaries on luxury items like speeders while the rest of the Republic was scraping the barrel to fund a war and protect their Nubian silk clad asses.

She was now on her way up to the floor where Organa held residence. But the turbolift stopped at the very next parking level, where the door opened to reveal a petite female politician accompanied by none other than Anakin.

Anakin looked startled for a moment at seeing his fellow Jedi in the elevator as if he was caught. Bethany raised her eyebrows aswell. "Fancy meeting you here Anakin." She said.

"Same goes for me Bethany. I was not expecting you here." The male Jedi said.

The small woman interrupted the somewhat awkward moment. "Ani, can we step into the lift before it leaves?"

"Sure Padme." He replied and he stepped past Bethany into the turbolift, followed by the senator. Bethany couldn't help but notice the familiarity they spoke with to eachother.

Once the doors closed the woman held out her hand to Bethany. "Hello, I am senator Padme Amidala. I ran into Anakin at the senate and he offered to give me a ride home." She said with a smile.

"How chivalrous of him. Though I'm suprised your not kissing the ground in gratitude for surviving flying with him." the master Jedi said with a smile, while Anakin huffed in annoyance and Padme chuckled. "I am Jedi master Bethany Cross." She added and she shook hands with Amidala.

"Ah, you are the famous Old Republic Jedi Anakin told me about. It's an honor to meet you." Padme said. Unlike other senators that Bethany had met, she sensed sincerity in the woman's words. A pleasant change.

"That's me," Bethany replied "and you are the senator of Naboo, if I'm not mistaken. How do you know our mutual Jedi friend over here?"

"At the start of the war, I was assigned as the senator's Jedi protector. And I still sometimes escort her on missions. We're long time friends." Anakin explained.

"I see, but weren't you on mission to Felucia?" Bethany asked.

"I returned a few hours ago, I was at the senate to meet with the chancellor regarding the mission, A prominent Republic captain lost his life in the battle and since Obi-wan would handle the debriefing by the council I wanted to inform the chancellor personally." Anakin responded. "But what about you? I thought they were going to deploy you back in the sieges."

"Change of plan I guess," Bethany said "I'm going to escort Senator Organa to Mandalore for the new trade treaties. Since I am originally from Mandalore the council thought it best if I went."

"I heard about the trade mission," Padme said "I hope the negotiations will be succesful, Mandalore is a powerful ally, even if they don't fight in the war."

Anakin nodded in agreement "I have only been to Mandalore a few times, and only for a brief period. Their strenght lies in their ideals, which is admirable. But I feel it is also their biggest weakness. Then again I might be biased because of Obi-wan." he said

"What does Kenobi have to do with Mandalore?" Bethany asked.

Anakin smirked "From what I know, he once spend an extended mission there protecting the Duchess. I think she is an old girlfriend of his."

"Obi-wan was romantically involved with Satine?" Padme asked suprised.

"At one point I think. Though he chose the order over her. I overheard them talking once, he said he would have left the order for her if she had asked him to." Anakin clarified.

"Well well, seems Pervert Kenobi really likes his women powerful." Bethany mused.

This caused Padme to look even more suprised while Anakin snorted away laugh. "Wait what? Pervert Kenobi?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later Padme." Anakin chuckled. Bethany laughed aswell "My stop is coming up. Have a nice day Senator, Anakin." she said with a bow.

Padme got her composure back "You too master Cross, please deliver my greetings to Bail and Satine, they are treasured friends." she said.

"I will Senator, goodbye." She and Anakin bowed to eachother in form of greeting and Bethany stepped out of the turbolift.

The lift continued on, now with just Padme and Anakin in it. "So, she seems nice." Padme remarked.

"Bethany is an amazing Jedi," Anakin said "She's a legend in the order and a great duelist. Not to mention a good friend."

"Is that so.." Padme let her voice trail for a moment.

"Do I sense jealousy there love?" Anakin smirked.

"Wherever do you get that idea." Padme huffed, crossing her arms. Anakin wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "As if any other woman in the galaxy could ever match up to you angel."

Padme relented "I guess I can forgive you, but you better tell me everything about this phenomenon called 'pervert Kenobi'."

"With pleasure!" Came his reply while he laughed again.

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After Bethany had left the turbolift she had walked up a hallway and found herself standing infront of a door which was guarded by clones. The two soldiers looked at her and asked her what her bussiness was.

"I'm Jedi master Cross, I'm here to meet up with Senator Organa of Alderaan as a jedi protector." She said.

"Could we see your identification?" the clone on the left asked.

Bethany was suprised but pulled out her holocard which held her personal information aswell as the stamp of the Jedi order, indicating she was part of it. The clone grabbed it and held it infront of a pocket scanner. The machine bleeped and Bethany could sense the clone's sudden confusion.

"This identification is not valid ma'am." He said. "It expired a.. eh.. 3.5 thousand years ago?"

His fellow guard looked at the clone "That can't be right, is the scanner broken?" he asked. "No look for yourself." The first clone said turning the scanner screen towards his friend.

"I did not know identification cards could expire." Bethany said with a raised eyebrow. "In anycase, the stamp shows I'm a Jedi so it should not be a problem right?"

"I'm sorry ma'am but without a valid I.D. we cannot let you in. We are going to have to ask you to leave." the clone with the scanner said.

Bethany fixed her icy gaze onto the man. "Please don't be difficult now. I am a Jedi and a general. I have a mission which concerns the senator your guarding."

"Again I'm sorry ma'am, but without proper I.D. you can be anyone. We have our orders and you can't come in." The guard said.

"I am wearing lightsabers, I have Jedi robes on and the identification is not a false document, just expired. I am on a time schedule here. Please let me in." Bethany said with some force behind her voice.

"Orders are orders ma'am, now please leave or we will have to escort you out ourselfs." The clone said as he and his friend rested their hands on the blasters clipped to their belt.

Bethany glared and flared her force aura. "This is ridiculous! I am General Cross of the grand army of the Republic, my rank is three times as high as yours will ever be. Don't make me order you two to stand down and let me pass."

The two clones moved as one as they stepped up and grabbed both of Bethany's arms. "Only a general can overwrite our orders ma'am, and until you can prove you are one we will not take any chances. Please come with us quietly, we are removing you from the perimeter."

Before Bethany could shrug the two clones off and give them a piece of her mind a new voice joined them from the door. "What is going on out here?"

In the doorway stood Bail Organa, who raised his eyebrows at the sight of two clones manhandling a jedi.

"This woman failed to show a valid I.D. sir, we are escorting her out." the right clone said.

"I told you two nerfbrains that I am jedi master Cross! And my I.D is valid, it's just expired." Bethany said as she twisted out of the clone's hold. The two clones grabbed for their blasters.

"My goodness," Bail said "stand down gentlemen. This woman is telling the truth, I was just informed of her arrival."

"Without I.D. we cannot be sure Senator. She could be an assassin posing as the Jedi." The clone said.

"I will vouch for her, please let her pass." Bail said in response.

The clones stepped back and holstered their blasters. "Very well sir, Were terribly sorry for the confusion general."

Bethany walked passed the two clones but turned around before she reached Bail. "What are your callsigns soldiers." She asked them.

"CC-4537 and CC-8674, part of the 467th division." They responded.

"Good, I shall be in contact with your commander and make sure your on latrine duty for the rest of the war. Treating a general like this is close to treason!" She said fixing her gaze onto their visors. The clones flinched at the remark and the glare

"Please calm down master Cross, they were doing their jobs." Bail intervened. "How about we go inside and forget this unfortunate turn of events. We have a mission to accomplish." He said holding out his arm, inviting Bethany into his appartment.

Bethany did not respond and instead just stalked into the residence. Bail followed her and closed the door.

"Alow me to introduce my wife, Breha Organa." the senator said once they were inside. Bethany was greeted by a woman with dark hair, close to Bail's age and dressed in royal Alderaanian robes.

"Welcome to our home master Jedi. I am terribly sorry for the confusion." Breha said. Bail agreed with his wife "Indeed, why was your I.D. not valid?"

Bethany showed the senator her holocard "It is valid, just old. I suppose I should get a new one. Thus far I haven't been asked to identify myself. Back in my day my reputation alone got me where I needed to be."

"This card belongs in a museum." Bail said "But it is understandable, you are not exactly from this time period I heard." he handed the card back to Bethany with a smile.

"In anycase, now that thats dealt with, I can formally greet you. Senator, my lady, I am Jedi master Bethany Cross and I am assigned as your protector for your upcoming mission to Mandalore." She said with a bow.

"I am grateful for the jedi's assistance. Though I am confident in my skills it puts the mind of my wife to rest if she knows I am properly protected. Mandalore is not the safest place in the galaxy for a Republic senator." Bail said.

"So I have heard," Bethany responded "Although I admire Duchess Satine's efforts in reforming Mandalore, several thousand years of tradition are not easily put aside."

"Are you familiar with Mandalore and it's culture?" Bail asked.

Bethany nodded "Yes, which is why I was chosen as your protector. I am originally from Mandalore so the council figured I know the best ways to protect you against any hostility."

"I thought Jedi were taking in by the order at a very young age, how come you learned of the culture?" Breha wondered.

"Times were different in the Old Republic," Bethany explained "The Sith and their Empire owned half the galaxy, the Jedi were very weak after the tragedy known as the Sacking of Coruscant and relation between the Jedi and Mandalore were very strained. We were forced to take on younglings at much older ages in order to survive as an order. I was taken to the temple when I was seven."

"I see, Although I hope you won't have to get into action during the mission I am sure you will be of much help. Have a seat master Cross." Bail said gesturing to one of the large lounge chairs in the middle of the room. "I am leaving for Mandalore tonight and hope to arrive tommorow morning, How about we go over the security details and logistics for the mission."

Bethany said down in the chair and crossed her legs. "Very well, lets begin with the security of your ship..."

00000

*1 Adraas is a Sithlord who together with Darth Malgus and a small army of Sith invaded the Jedi temple during the Sacking of Coruscant.

*2 I am not sure if Orgus Din was on the planet during the Sacking of Coruscant, but he is in my version.

A much smaller chapter than usual, closer to my first ones but I felt that adding more would just make the eventual chapter break awkward. Then again, post edit added another 500 words *shrug* Next chapter we will see how the mission to Mandalore will go. If you wonder about the first scene of the chapter, all I can say is: FORESHADOWING!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review if you did, they help alot.

Loretwister out


	9. Mandalorian troubles part 2

Hey guys and welcome back to another chapter. My apologies for the long wait, but this chapter gave me alot of trouble. Lack of inspiration and just not being able to find the right words hampered my progress. I have rewritten this chapter two or three times and finnaly I'm happy with it. Or well, Happy enough to post it.

I hope you Enjoy.

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The trip to Mandalore went with out a problem. After Bethany and Bail had had boarded the Senator personal cruiser they had wasted no time in getting of Coruscant and into hyperspace. It would take a ship this size several hours to get to Mandalore and during this time Bethany patrolled the ship and checked in with the security every few minutes, ensuring there was nothing on board that could threaten the life of her target.

Right now the ship was in orbital descent towards Bethany's original home planet. Mandalore looked pretty much the same since she had left when she was a girl. Her Jedi career never brought her back to the planet so she was quite anxious to revisit the place of her birth. For a moment she wondered if her childhood home even still existed.

Bethany was brought out of her musing by Bail, who walked up beside her and shared her view. "My pilots tell me we'll land in Sundari within the hour." He said.

"Then I think it's safe to assume the journey has been without incident. Not that I expected anything happening while traveling to Mandalore." Bethany replied.

"You are being quite cautious master Jedi. Is the threat on my life really that high?" Bail wondered.

"I don't know Senator, and that is why I don't like it." Bethany said turning towards him. "They could be planning something big, or they're not planning anything at all. It is too hard to say, so I think its better to be safe than sorry."

"While I appreciate your concern, I must ask you to not overdo it master Cross. This is your home planet afterall, you should enjoy the visit a little." The Senator said with a smile

"If my duty permits it, I will senator." Bethany replied smiling back. "But I am a Jedi before I am a Mandalorian. You will be my top priority."

"Have you ever been to Sundari?" Bail asked.

"No I have not. Sundari did not exist back when I lived on the planet. I was born in Keldabe, the old capital of the Mandalorian Empire." the Jedi answered.

Bail rubbed his trimmed beard "That is a shame. I have heared Sundari is quite the jewel. Rivaling city's like Theed or Aldera."

"I guess we will found out soon enough. Please excuse me Senator, I must make a final round." Bethany said as she bowed.

"Very well, I will meet you at the boarding ramp once were landed." The senator replied.

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The Mandalorians were never known for their extravagance. So when Senator Organa and master Cross walked off the boarding ramp of the just docked republic cruiser, all they found was a small party awaiting them.

A group of eight armored guards were surrounding two people. One male and one female. The man was of middle age with a very receding hairline and a mustache. The female was much younger, her blonde hair in an elaborate contraption and she had a deep blue robe that reminded Bethany of the old maiden dresses of the warrior clans.

Bethany and Bail made their way towards the group. Bethany had her hands folded inside her robe and wore her hood, as protocol of a jedi protector dictated. The front row of guards stepped aside so that the four dignitaries could greet.

"Welcome to Mandalore, Senator Organa." The woman said holding out her hand.

Bail bent forwards and kissed the hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you Duchess Satine."

"The pleasure is all mine Senator," Satine replied with a smile "and allow me to introduce the Prime minister of Mandalore."

The man with the mustache stepped forward to shake hands. "Prime minister Armatan, at your service." He said. The minister then eyed Bethany and asked "And who is your escort senator, if I may ask."

Bethany bowed typical Jedi style and said "Jedi master Bethany Cross."

The Duchess suddenly got a very cool look. "I was unaware that the Jedi would partake in our negotiations Senator Organa." She said to Bail, slight indignation could be heard in her voice.

Bail fixed the situation masterfully "Master Cross is here on my personal request for protection. I am afraid that with the war, there are plenty of factions who would benefit from the capture or removal of a Republic senator. I thought it would be more practical if I were to have a Jedi with me instead of a battalion of troopers. My apologies for not notifying you in advance. It was not my intent to insult you."

Bethany added to it "I will be nigh invisible your grace, I am only here to ensure our good senator's safety."

"Very well," Satine said less warily "I welcome you to Mandalore aswell, master Jedi."

Minister Armatan spoke up "I say we move towards the palace and continue our introductions there." Satine and Bail nodded as the made to walk to the awaiting speeder. The perimeter of guards closed in around them as they walked into the city.

00000

Fourteen hours

After the dignitatries arrived at Sundari Palace a brief introduction was done towards the rest of the Mandalorian council, after which the politicians sat down and started the first act in this political play.

Now more than half a day later the group was breaking up to continue negotiations the next day. During this time Bethany had done nothing more than stand guard at the sidelines, melting into the decor of guards and tapestries.

Luckily she had somewhat mastered the art of meditation while standing. Most of the time was spend with her eyes closed, focusing inwards and monitoring the Force for anything that could jeopardize her mission.

Bethany hadn't payed much attention to the negotiations themself. The Jedi did not have a mind to read inbetween lines and discern hidden motives or play's to bend negotiations to one's advantage. But the overall feeling of the room was positive. With both sides genuinely wanting to come to an agreement. While tired after fourteen hours, Bethany was under the impression that the day had been productive and that made her feel relieved.

It meant that she would not be stuck here on Mandalore for weeks while both parties battled with words. Give her a week long campain on the frontlines instead of this any day.

"Master jedi," came the voice of Bail. "are you alright?"

Bethany opened her eyes and dropped out of her meditative trance. She saw Bail stand infront of her with Satine and her Prime minister behind him. She graced her face with a smile and responded "Yes Senator, just meditating. I see that negotiations are being put on halt."

"Yes, I have to say the day has been productive, but even politicians have to eat at one point," Bail admitted. "the Duchess has invited me to dine with her and asked if you would join us aswell."

"I wouldn't want to impair Senator. I am only here to guard." Bethany said.

"Nonsense," came the reply from Satine "You are a guest of Mandalore. The least we can do is offer dinner."

"In that case, I would be a fool to refuse." Bethany bowed.

The group followed a servant towards the dining area. They weaved through several hallway's accompanied by the usual contingent of guards until they reached their destination. It was a balcony overlooking the palace gardens, although a more apt description would be a rooftop terrace because the place was huge. In the middle stood a large table with comfortable chairs surrounding it. The perimeter was littered with potted plants and shrubs and soft lights in the floor made the terrace illuminate in the approaching dusk.

"I thought it would be nice to dine outside today. Summers on Mandalore can become quite hot even with the controlled environment of the dome." Armatan said. Bethany could not help but agree with the man, remembering the seven summers she spend in Keldabe when she was young.

"Please have a seat Senator, master Jedi." Satine said while she herself walked over to the head of the table and sat down. Armatan joined the Duchess on her left and Bail sat down on her right. Bethany opted to sit next to the Senator.

Within minutes a group of servants was weaving around the table, placing serving tray's with food along with plates and a pletoria of utensils. A man looking to belong to the kitchen staff stepped up next to the Duchess and explained today's menu. Bethany smiled through it all but inside she tried her hardest to remember the etiquette lessons she had been taught as a padawan.

Master Din was not one for super fancy dinners himself but, as he had explained a disgruntled teenage Bethany, a Jedi must learn the ways of negotiations and that included knowing proper dining etiquette. Bethany had scoffed at her master back then but right now she regretted not paying more attention. It was either her imagination or the Force but she swore she heared the mocking snort of her old master wispered in her ear. Damn that old man!

Bethany did not give up though. As dinner progressed she kept a close eye on her fellow table members. Years of saber practise had taught her to distinguish subtle muscle twitches and movements. And she managed to use all the right utensils and proper table manner by copying what the other did.

Idle conversation went back and forth between the three politicians and the jedi while dinner progressed. Bethany asked some questions about the new Mandalore, while the Duchess inquired about the recent developments in the Jedi order. She also asked after Obi-wan, at which Bethany told her he was fine.

Suddenly, the peaceful dinner was disrupted harshly.

Out of nowhere chaos errupted on the rooftop terrace. A transporter broke out of a traffic lane outside the palace and swooped into the no-fly zone above the palace. The guards that were present drew their weapons and used their communicators to get back-up. The transport barrelled towards the terrace and stopped just meters above the table. Wind from the turbines blew most of the table clean and Prime minister Armatan fell back out of his chair in surprise.

The transporter opened it's doors and a group of soldiers jetpacked out. Bethany recognized the Mandalorian design of their armor and jumped up from her seat towards Bail, intend to protect him at all cost.

The Mandalorian attackers were swift in their offence. They jetpacked onto the guards and attacked them ruthlessly with their blasters and vibroblades. Bethany drew her own sabers, orange blades humming over the sound of the floating transport. While she pushed Bail back behind her she saw the first enemy approach her.

The mandelorian that chose Bethany as his target attacked with his vibroblade and Bethany blocked, sweeping her other blade towards his chest. The man jumped using his Jetpack and evaded the blow. His vibroblade flashed during the summersault over her and nearly hit her shoulder. Bethany dropped in a crouch to evade it and leaned on the balls of her feet, twisting around and swiping her lightsaber through the landing warrior. The saber hit it's target and the man was felled with a suprised cry.

Meanwhile the rest of the Mandalorian attackers delt with the remaining security. One by one the Duchess her guards fell. Even though some managed to injure the attackers it was clear that they were outmatched.

During the rest of the fight Bethany had tried her best to keep the men off the senator. But the Mandelorian warriors were too skilled to mow down like battle droids. Also Bethany could not go all out against these attackers since she could not risk getting Bail or the others caught in the crossfire.

Bethany still managed to kill three of them before finally someone yelled "Drop your weapon Jedi!"

It was a female voice and Bethany turned towards its source, seeing a female in armor pointing a blaster at Bail's head, while holding him in a headlock. "Or the Senator dies." The woman said. Our Jedi had no choice but to drop out of stance and disengage her sabers.

As the last guard fell, a pair of armored men walked up to the door and touched the doorlock with some device, breaking it. This locked the only exit, or entrance for any rescuers.

The Duchess was now being held by two men and four others secured Bail and Armatan. The female, who now had her hands free raised her two blaster towards Bethany "On your knees and hands behind your head Jedi, no funny busssiness." Bethany begrudgingly complied.

"Duchess Satine, what a pleasure to meet you here." The leader said as he stepped forward. Bethany identified him by the cloak around his right shoulder. The man removed his helmet and showed a battle hardened face with short blonde hair.

"Pre Vizsla," Satine snarled "Of all the times you choose to meddle with Mandalore's integrity you chose this one."

"Why yes, I am here to prevent this sham of a treaty to be established afterall." Vizsla shot back to her.

Satine still looked furious "Don't think you can get away with it this time Pre, the Repubilc won't take kindly to you attacking one of their most important Senator's."

Vizsla looked not in the least worried "And what will they do exactly? Aslong as I have him and you in my grasp they cannot do a thing to stop me. They won't risk the life of their precious Senator, not even in an attempt to rescue him. Why do you think I chose to strike _now_?"

"Figures you and your Deathwatch would try and ruin Mandalore's chance at a stable economy." Satine said.

"Please Duchess, listen to yourself! I am only protecting our proud heritage. The Republic has been our enemy for millenia. But you and your weak government once again throw tradition into the wind and sit here making deals with the enemy!"

"Our war with the Republic is in the past!" Satine yelled back at Vizsla "Mandalore needs those treaties to survive."

"Your weak Mandalore needs them to survive, you pacifist. My future Mandalore will have no such problems!" Vizsla said with a smirk. "The prood Mandalorian dynasty will soon rule again. I will bring back the prosperity and honor you and your government squandered away. This negotiation bussiness proved to be the golden opportunity to start."

Bethany snorted at that, turning the attention of Vizsla to her "Got something to say, Jedi?" he snarled offended by her remark.

Bethany looked up from her kneeled position and straight into Vizsla's eyes, not one bit intimidated "You're blabbering about bringing back the glory day's of Mandalore. I say so far, you're not doing a very good job."

Vizla looked very ticked off on that comment and drew a weapon. To Bethany's surprise it was a lightsaber with a black blade. In the back of her mind she remembered it from back in the old temple on Coruscant. The darksaber it was called.

The Mandalorian leader brought the blade to Bethany's neck. "It is not smart to piss off those who hold your life in their hands Jedi." Vizsla said.

To his surprise Bethany laughed in his face "Oh sure by all means. Kill me. The moment I die every Jedi in the galaxy will sense it. They'll be here to exact justice before you can properly sit your ass onto Mandalore's throne."

"Do you recognize this weapon? It was taken from your Jedi temple by my ancestors. My people have defeated the Jedi before." Vizsla smirked.

"It seems you need to refresh on your clan's history, Vizsla. That blade was stolen by Shae Vizsla(*1) from the Jedi temple in the aftermath of the battle of Coruscant. Taking Jedi property after they have all been killed by the Sith is hardly an accomplishment." Bethany responded. "Then again, she and the rest of the clans were nothing more than Sith lapdogs since the Mandalorian wars anyway." She smirked.

Pre now looked livid and raised his saber to behead the Jedi for her insult. Bethany responded by using the Force to deliver a blow to his knee when he was posed to strike, making him lose his balance and fall down backwards. Bethany laughed again while he scrambled up.

"If I may give a tip. If you ever want to succeed in this foolish plot. It _would indeed_ be best if you keep us alive to hold hostage. The moment I or the Senator die, the Republic will divert all possible forces to destroy you." Bethany said.

Luckily Vizsla saw reason in those words. But more because of the female Mandalorian that had stopped Bethany before stayed his hand. She turned towards Bethany

"I agree that you're worth much more alive than dead. But nobody said anything about healthy. And you will pay for your insolence." She sneered and motioned to some of their men behind Bethany. Before the Jedi could respond she felt an armored boot plant itself between her shoulderblades.

00000

It was about two hours later that Bethany was thrown in a cell down in the palace detention center and the Jedi had seen better days. The Deathwatch goons hadn't so much tortured her as they had just beaten her up. Nonetheless she was bruised, swollen and hurting all over.

"Master Jedi are you okay?" came the voice of Satine. Deathwatch had thrown Bethany in a cell with the Duchess while the next cell was occupied by Bail and Armatan. A Glassfiber wall separated the two cells. The three other captives appeared to be fine, meaning Bethany's intent to spare them any torture succeeded. The Jedi groaned as Satine turned her over on her back. "I have had better days Duchess." She weezed.

Bethany was shackled by her wrists and ankles, limiting her movements severely. Also she was stripped of her lightsabers and toolbelt. Satine grabbed one of the thin blankets from the beds and folded it under Bethany's head.

"Master Cross, there was no reason to take this violence on our behalf." Bail said through the wall. So he had noticed her intent when she provoked Vizsla. He was a true politician.

"Protect the Senator from all harm. That was my mission's objective," Bethany groaned "besides I have been through worse."

"You're all bruised and broken, what could be worse than this?" Satine asked.

"Believe me Duchess, the hospitality of the old Empire was ten times worse than this." Bethany answered. While closing her eyes.

Satine sounded alarmed "Stay with us master Cross!"

"I am only meditating, trying to heal myself. I don't think they broke anything but my ribs are certainly bruised and several muscles are sprained." Bethany assured. "And I'll need all my strenght for our escape."

"Escape? How do you plan to accomplish that?! There are dozens of them through the city by now. Without help we will be caught and punished before we can even get to a ship." Armatan said in despair.

"I am open for suggestions Prime minister, But I do know that sitting here waiting for Vizsla to plant himself on Mandalore's throne and taking over the government will not help one bit. Aslong as he has us held hostage the Republic or the Jedi can't send help. And the more time we give him to prepare, the less likely we'll be able to stop him." Bethany said.

"Master Cross is right, I'll be damned if I just sit here idly awaiting my demise. If they want me dead, they will damn well have to work for it." Bail said passionately.

00000

Satine stood bashing against the door of their cell, trying to get the attention of their guards who were sitting in the cell control center "Someone, please listen to me, we need help here!" She shouted.

Two Deathwatch soldiers walked up to the cells. They were not wearing their helmets, indicating they weren't really on their guard looking over their prisoners. They glared at Satine, which made her stop the bashing. "What do you want." The left one snapped.

"We need medical attention! Our Jedi is dying in here." Satine said.

"Do you really think we'll fall for that?" The other Deathwatch goon laughed.

Bail was the next to speak up. "Use your eyes you fools, can't you see master Cross there on the ground.

Behind Satine, lying on the cold floor was Bethany, pained expression on her face while she was coughing up blood and weazing for air.

"You bastards broke one of her ribs and it's punctured a lung." Satine told them.

"And you think we care about this Jedi scum?" the left one sneered.

Satine reprimanded them "You may not personally, but I'm sure you heard her talking to Vizsla. If she dies you and your group will lose alot of leverage with the Republic."

The Mandelorians glanced to eachother with an unsure look. "We'll take a look, step back woman, no games." They said.

They opened the cell and stepped in. Satine made herself scarce by sitting back on the bed in the corner. The two men kneeled down next to Bethany and made to inspect her injury

The next moment Bethany sprung into action. Surprising the two guards with the fact she was fully healed and fine. She curled up and lifted her legs, wrapping them around the neck of one of them and rolling, throwing the man over herself. The other man jumped back to reach for his blaster but suddenly flew back against the wall, courtesy of a Force push by Bethany. The flying man hit his helmetless head against the wall and lost consiousness, slumping down against the wall, probarly with a fractured skull.

The man between her legs was still there, trying to wrestle out of the choke hold Bethany had on him. He was clawing at her legs with his face slowly turning red. In response the Jedi squeezed her thighs even tighter together and soon the struggling man went limp.

Satine sprung into action and went over the unconcious men to locate the cell key's and more importantly the key's to the binders that held their Jedi. Bethany stood up once she was freed and lifted the two men up to the bed. She then covered them with the blankets, making it look like they were Satine and Bethany, sleeping.

"This is going to hurt for a while," Bethany said rubbing her jawline. To imitate a punctured lung she had bitten the inside of her cheek and let it bleed, fooling the men in thinking it came from her lungs.

"A wonderful preformance master Jedi, now lets get out of here." Satine said in response.

Satine freed Bail and Armatan and the four of them dashed to the cell control office. "Damn, my lightsabers are not here." Bethany cursed. "They do have blasters here though" Bail said, grabbing one of them and checking the ammo clip. Satisfied he threw one to Satine and Armatan while grabbing a third. Bethany scavenged two vibroblades.

Satine looked unsure with the blaster and Bail laid a hand on her shoulder "I know you hate violence Duchess, but there is nothing wrong with defending yourself. And as master Cross demonstrated back in the cell, that can be done perfectly without killing."

Bethany agreed "Mandelorian armor is weaker at the joints. Aim for their knees or elbows and you can disable them without any permanent damage done."

Satine said nothing but nodded to the two. Armatan broke the converation by stating that they should not dally, incase other guards come down and check.

The four made it out of the detention block and were now stalking the Palace hallways. The Force was assisting the group by notifying Bethany of lifeforms approaching. They had taken all of them by surprise and downed the Deathwatch on their way to their destination.

They reached their intended location minutes later. The Mandalorian palace central communication room. Bethany stepped up towards the console and plugged in her communicator. Bethany always carried an emergency distress communicator on her, hidden in the one place any enemy with even a shred of honor would not look, her cleavage. It had been a trick she had picked up from Kira, who before she became a Jedi was used to hiding important or personal items from scavengers and thugs on Nar Shadaa.

They knew they did not have much time, so Bethany used one of her old frequencies to send a simple text message.

00000

Anakin and Obi-wan were striding through the halls of the Jedi temple with Mace Windu behind them. The three Jedi had just come from a meeting with Republic command concerning the final debrief of the mission to Felucia, where Anakin and Obi-wan had come from a day or more earlier. R2 was rolling behind the three Jedi, the droid had provided holo-images and data on the mission.

Suddenly their idle talk was interrupted by furious beeping from an unfamiliar astromech rolling around the corner.

"Who's droid is that?" Anakin asked out loud as said droid spotted the Jedi and rolled up to them in urgency.

"I believe it's master Cross's astromech, Teeseven-something." Obi-wan pondered.

"This astromech was Bethany's? He must have been build back in the old Republic then!" Anakin said with some excitement in his voice. It was not often you would come across such well preserved 'ancient' technology.

T7 stopped before the Jedi and started bleeping even more. "What does it want?" Windu asked Anakin and Obi-wan, who looked as confused as the Korun master.

R2 rolled up next to T7 and started beeping back. T7 turned his photo-receptor onto the droid and bleeped back to R2.

"Do you get what he is saying Artoo?" Anakin asked. R2 confirmed. Suddenly T7 activated his holo projector and displayed a message.

"T7 get new binary translator algorithm from R2 / T7 = urgent message to Jedi / Jedi = grave danger!"

"which Jedi? Do you mean master Cross?" Windu asked.

"T7 = confirm / T7 + message from Jedi / T7 display message!" the droid wrote. He then displayed the text message Bethany had send him.

MASTERS,

I SCRAMBLED THIS MESSAGE SO THAT ONLY T7-01 COULD TRANSLATE IT. DEATHWATCH HAS ATTACKED AND TAKEN ME AND THE SENATOR CAPTIVE, ASWELL AS THE DUCHESS. THEY PLAN TO OVERTHROW THE MANDALORIAN GOVERNMENT WHILE KEEPING US HOSTAGE SO THE REPUBLIC CANNOT INTERFERE. WE ARE CURRENTLY ESCAPING AND MAKING PLANS TO STOP DEATHWATCH. T7-01 CAN HOME IN ON MY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATOR. PLEASE SEND HELP, DISCREETLY.

MASTER CROSS.

"We feared it might come to this but it is most unfortunate. We must send a division to Mandalore to assist master Cross." Windu said.

"I don't think that will work master Windu," Obi-wan said "master Cross asked for discreet help. Mandalore will not respond kindly towards an armed intervention. They will see it as an attack and rally under Deathwatch. I am sure that Deathwatch is clever enough to turn Mandalore's population against us like that if we go in with an armed force."

"Then we must send some other form of help," Windu replied "We cannot afford the loss of Senator Organa or master Cross."

"I'll go to Mandalore with my padawan. She knows the way around Sundari." Anakin offered.

"Is that wise Anakin?" Obi-wan asked him "If master Cross could not go up against Deathwatch then you would not fare that much better. I speak from experience when I say they are not to be taken lightly."

"I will judge the situation accordingly master," Anakin responded "If Deathwatch is too strong then atleast I can provide an escape for the Senator, the Duchess and master Cross. If I can secure the Duchess then she can speak out for us towards her people, allowing us to send troops to deal with the matter."

"I agree with this plan," Windu said "go Skywalker and make haste! We will manage the situation from here. You have the council's approval."

Anakin nodded and spun around, breaking into a jog towards the hangars.

00000

"The space docks are just around the next corner." Satine said to her companions while they creeped trough the lower streets of Sundari.

The three politicians and Bethany had swiftly made it out of the palace after the Jedi had send her distress signal. Unfortunatly they had been spotted near the palace gates and from that moment on a infuriating game of cat and mouse had been going on. They were trying to get a ship to escape the city and get to somewhere safe while Deathwatch had put all available agents on their capture.

And the Mandalorians had come close quite a few times, they were low on ammo and the vibroblades that Bethany wielded were nearly giving out. But as the Duchess had just said, they were nearly there.

The group rounded the mentioned corner and looked for the first ship that would be space-worthy. Bail spotted a freighter nearly done with unloading it's cargo and pointed out that that would be their best shot.

As they made their way to the ship however, their luck ran out. Out of nowhere nearly twenty Deathwatch soldiers landed around them, blasters ready. The pilot of their intended escape craft dropped to the ground in surprise and shielded his head.

"You surprise me Duchess, I didn't know you had it in you to attempt such a daring escape." Pre Vizsla said as he walked into the circle of Mandalorian armor. He then smirked while he raised a blaster towards her head "But I'm afraid it has all been for naught. Infact I'm afraid I'll have to kill you now." His finger slowly pressed down more onto the trigger

Bethany stepped infront of the Duchess, shouting "Wait!"

Vizsla didn't lower the blaster but did stop trying to fire. "Again you try to interfere in my work Jedi, This time I won't be sparing your life."

Bethany however did not respond to the threat and instead said "Pre Vizsla, I challenge you to a duel. One warrior versus the other!"

00000

(*1) Shae Vizla is never confirmed to be a (x-amount of great) grandmother of Pre Vizsla. Notice the missing 's' in her name which is in Pre's. But I found it stupid to not make them related due to a simple missing letter while Pre does wield a weapon known to be stolen during the sacking of Coruscant and Shae was heavily involved in said sacking.

Yes, that cliffhanger. I had to cut the chapter somewhere and I have half of the duel written already. The next chapter should be soon. Meanwhile, during my absence to this story I have written another piece in a different fandom. If you are a fan of Dragon Age, you might like my massive oneshot. So until chapter 10 is here, check my profile for it.

I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you did, they help the writing alot.

Loretwister out.


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